Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang
by SilverFang88
Summary: Tessaiga, the sword of an old age and infamously known as 'The Sword of Destruction'. But it's era has come and gone, demons no longer ravage the land, and its legend fades into memory. Yet, even in the age of shinobi, it's true purpose still remains intact. Naruto has rediscovered that legend and, with time, its true purpose as he wields it throughout his own adventures.
1. How it All Began It Begins Anew

Hello Naruto fan-base.

Been a good long while since I actually wrote anything in this category. Longer than that since I actually did anything that was going to act as long-standing project. Well, lets hope I can keep up with the times and things haven't changed too much since I've been away. In the event that anyone cares, this is my Re-Write Project for the story that, at the time, got me to the 1,000 review marker.

The old one's crap, but this one hopefully won't be, so I lets see if this idea isn't too faded and you all enjoy the rewrite of my old work.

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 **Inuyasha and Naruto are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Mamashi Kishimoto respectfully; therefore I own nothing.**

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Konohagakure no Sato, the village hidden in the leaves, one of the five great villages that made up the entirety of the shinobi world and largely considered to be the strongest among them.

As things current stood, today was to be a day of celebration and with good reason as well. For on this day, many among the youthful occupants of this village were to have graduated from the shinobi academy. To many of the youths of this generation, they had completed the first step towards their future aspirations. Some dreamed of fame, some wealth, some for the sole purpose of serving, and some to carry on their family's tradition. The reasons why they aspired for this lifestyle varied, but the fact remained the same was that they were all one step closer towards reaching whatever goal they strived to achieve. So indeed today was a day worth celebrating, as nearly every person among this particular year's class had passed the final exam that would allow them to graduate.

Nearly, however, did not mean all had passed.

And the solitary child who did not was currently seated far away from the crowd of peers and parents alike.

This boy was Uzumaki Naruto, the boy who failed, the troublemaker, and overall idiot of their class.

Even as he sat on the solitary swing that existed in front of the academy, the blonde couldn't help but stare at the sizeable crowd of people that blocked the entrance to the academy. He couldn't help but stare because there really wasn't much else for him to do. No mother or father of his were going to show up to comfort him because he did not have any. None of his peers were going to come near him at this point because every last one of them disliked him. Nobody even spared him a second glance from where he was, despite the obvious orange he wore being a huge contrast to greenery that surrounded him on nearly all sides.

They treated him like he didn't exist, like he wasn't here, because in their minds he didn't.

In their own worlds, the people of that crowd were centered around their offspring's success.

Was it selfish of him to wish that just once someone would give him the time of day? Would it have been that hard for him to get even one glance of sympathy? Perhaps it was selfish, but he was entitled to that as he was still a child and that was not something he could be blamed for. Every child wanted to be acknowledged in some way or another, every last one of them wanted some form of attention. Naruto, however, rarely had any sort of positive attention directed at him and those moments were typically too few and far between to really have a noteworthy affect. By comparison, the negative attention he received was staggering to say the least; most cases the rather hateful stares and the hushed whispers of spiteful villagers were all he ever got.

But that was something he did his best to ignore, even if what was being said was negative they at least acknowledged that he was there. That was what made the pranks, the loud antics, and the overall bad behavior worth it. This sort of display was what hurt the most. To be treated like he was invisible, to deny his entire existence, was something he hated most. What made it worse was that, in his current dejected state, he couldn't even gather the energy to provoke them.

He was just too _tired_ of trying.

Tired of making empty boasts, tired of sitting here watching his peers being praised and congratulated by their parents.

"...probably wouldn't have made a big difference anyway." Was the sullen murmur Naruto spoke aloud as he reached down to retrieve his goggles settled by his feet. "Not like anyone was gonna congratulate me on graduating anyway."

If he was trying to make himself feel better, then he had chosen the wrong way to go about it. All those words did was further remind him of what he never had and wasn't ever going to have. Sure, he made comments like these pretty often and in most cases it was to entice sympathy from select people. But in this instance, the sting that was pinging his chest was far more painful than it typically was; this time in lingered in his chest like a stomach ache that made him want to go home and sleep off. Such was to be the likely turn of events after securing his goggles on their usual place on his head.

Fate, it seemed, had a different agenda in mind.

Before the blonde could raise himself up off the swing, he became aware of one his instructors standing wthin a reasonably close proximity to where he was situated.

As to be expected, with so many parents busy congratulating and praising their respected offspring, nobody truly took note of either the teacher or the student in the background. Nor did anyone realize that both parties had promptly departed from the academy grounds shortly thereafter.

* * *

If Naruto was to be honest with himself, this situation was rather strange. Stranger still was the fact that neither he nor his sensei had spoken since the initial confrontation at the academy. Naruto because he knew there wasn't much to talk about and...well, he didn't know the reason behind Mizuki's silence. Given, the man did try to convince Iruka to let him pass, but his efforts really didn't accomplish much. All that served to do was showcase how much better everyone else was at making a stupid clone. Naruto wasn't mad at Mizuki though, and though he was upset, he wasn't even really mad at Iruka either. Everyone else was able to do it, everyone except him, so even he could get that he failed fair and square.

"You know, Iruka doesn't hate you or anything like that." The first words Mizuki spoke almost reflected on where his mind currently was at. "Harsh as he is, I'm sure he wanted nothing more than to see you graduate with everyone else."

"Could've fooled me."

Okay, so maybe there was a bit more spite in him regarding the scarred man. Not that he could be blamed, considering how often the man took to berating him in class.

"He has his reasons, he knows what you're going through, and he only has the best of intentions at heart. It was rough for him too, no family to speak of just like you, so he does it so you won't go through the same things he did growing up."

Yeah, they were the same in that regard, but with one key difference. Iruka had parents at one point in his life, he knew them too, and that probably made it that much harder when he lost them. Naruto never knew either of his parents, he didn't have a clue who they were or what they even looked like. As bad as it sounded, he was probably better off not knowing either of those things; less he be subjected to the pain of loss. That wasn't a very soothing thought, but it certainly made it easier to accept when he lacked such knowledge.

"I know but...I really wanted to pass this time."

Having failed for the third year in a row, it was understandable that the blonde was done fantasizing and instead wanted to live out his dream about being a shinobi. All his dreams, his goals, all of it was all riding on passing this first hurdle. Said hurdle had kept him back this long, forcing him to take a step backwards with each failure. Whenever he tried to take that next step forward, it kicked him backwards a full two steps. It was frustrating, it was nerve-racking, and he was done watching the backs of everyone else as they went on to be what he couldn't. He didn't want to watch it happen again, didn't want to be left behind and forgotten like he had been twice already, he was ready to move on and grow to be somebody.

Yet that wasn't going to happen, not this time anyway. That was what he was thinking until he took note of the light chuckle that emerged from Mizuki's lips. That sort of reaction immediately caught his attention, enough to warrant the shift in position to give a rather frustrated look to the Chuunin sitting not far from him.

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you; it's just that I have some a little secret that you'd probably like to hear." Admittedly, the look the boy was giving him was the most attentive one he had ever seen on his face in a long while. It was the reaction he had been expecting to receive and it had been so painfully easy to provoke. "It's not a common practice, but there is a way to pass the final exam with an alternative one. It isn't easy, it might even be harder than the actual exam, but if you succeed then you will pass and become a Genin with the rest of your classmates."

For his part, Naruto was stunned about this little revelation and rightfully so. Here he was, on his third year of graduation, and only now did anyone bother to tell him about this secret. Why wasn't he told about it sooner? How come Iruka never mentioned it to him all those times the two went out to eat? Hell, why was it a secret to begin with!? If he had known about this test in his first year, he would have happily jumped at the chance to finally move on. Despite the questions, his ignorance, Naruto was all too willing to throw caution to the wind if that was what it took for him to be a shinobi. Opportunity only knocks once, at least that's how he remembered the saying went, and if Mizuki was giving him that opportunity then one could bet that he was going to answer it.

"Really!? You serious!? You're not messing around with me are you sensei? _Pleeeeeeeease_ tell me you're not joking with me right now because that would be really-"

"Calm down, calm down, I promise I'm not messing with you. The test is real, but I'm being serious about its difficulty, it's not going to be easy for you and there's no retaking this one."

"Oh please, just tell me what I gotta do and I'll do it. As long as I don't have to do anything with the _Bunshin no Jutsu;_ cause...well, you know how that'll turn out."

"Yes, I know, and you'll be happy to know that it doesn't."

Mizuki himself couldn't have been more eager to loosen his lips about the supposed 'test' which Naruto would be undertaking. In complete honesty, things could not have been going any smoother than they were right now. Desperation made anyone hasty in their decisions, so hasty in fact that they often don't question their choices until it is too late to do so. Applying this to a kid, one who was naive and dense as they came to boot, made manipulating the little brat all too easy. Everything was falling into place, the blonde soaking up every single instruction he gave like a sponge. In the back of his mind, he could only imagined how surprised Iruka would have been to see the boy this attentive. He himself might have found this sight to be amusing if it was any other kid that was as ignorant as this one.

The key word there being 'might'.

"You understand now, right?" Having finished giving out his instructions, he stared down the gullible blonde who was currently busy nodding his head vigorously. "Okay then, repeat it back to me once just to be sure."

"Sure, I sneak into the oji-san's place, grab that one scroll from his office, head into that spot in the woods you mentioned, and learn a technique from the scroll. If I show you that I learned a technique from it, then you'll let me pass."

"There are a lot of scrolls in the Hokage's office, which scroll are you looking for?"

"The...um, _Fūin no Sho_ , right?"

"Correct."

"Sweet! So, Mizuki-sensei, when do you want me to start?"

Mizuki couldn't keep the smile from his face, though he did keep it from spreading too wide. The kid was just too easy to exploit and when everything was said and done he would have killed two birds with one stone. Ridding the world of this little pest and acquiring power that would go beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Sure, he wouldn't stick around the village anymore, but he would at least do Konoha a great favor as his parting gift. It was the least he could do, plus it only made the whole charade he was putting on for the brat worthwhile. Seriously, the thing couldn't even create a standard clone, a feat that every one of his peers _except_ _him_ could perform. So what was the likelihood of him learning _anything_ from that scroll when he couldn't even create a single passable clone?

The conclusion to that thought only served to make the corners of his lips twitch upwards slightly as he gave out his final instructions to the ignorant boy.

* * *

Unfortunately, Mizuki failed to grasp just how eager Naruto was in regards to the supposed 'test' he was to partake in. Or perhaps it was something he had taken into account and it was an outcome he had been anticipating. It was hard to say honestly, but regardless of if it was or was not part of his scheme was irrelevent at this stage. While he had been told to wait at least an hour after nightfall, Naruto wasted little time once the sun had fallen passed the horizon to begin. Like hell he was going to wait a whole other hour just to get some fancy scroll. He had waited long enough for the day to end and night to begin. And while an hour wouldn't have been too long of a wait, he was just way too hype about finally graduating to truly pay his sensei's instructions much mind.

Though, in retrospect, if he had waited he probably wouldn't have run into the Hokage when he was getting the scroll. But that was a moot point at this stage since he was able to take care of that issue himself, a fact that he was actually pretty proud of to be honest. Either way, he completed the first part of his test, and had just touched down at the shack he was told to meet Mizuki. Now all that remained was to learn a technique from the scroll and he could kiss his years in the academy goodbye for good.

"Okay, so, the first technique in this scroll is..." With the scroll partially unraveled, he started reading the characters on the parchment in front of him. "... _Tajū Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_..."

There was an exceedingly long pause once he finished reading precisely what was written on the scroll in front of him. But that silence was not a result of his inability to understand kanji, rather it was because he was too busy trying not to burst into a fit of furious rage. Had he not been so furious with the sight of this particular technique, he probably would have felt his eyebrow twitching along with the slight headache he was developing due to the protruding veins beneath his goggles. He had been lied to, Mizuki had said he wouldn't need to learn a clone technique for this test, but the very first thing he finds is what? A clone technique, though its name was different from the one he had been practicing in the academy, it was still a damn clone technique.

In his anger and frustration, Naruto proceeded to do what he believed to be the best course of action.

"...NEXT!"

Treating the massive scroll as a giant roll of toilet paper, the Uzumaki proceeded to unravel it and explore the contents further within. But with a scroll as thick as this one, various techniques of recent and ancient times were literally at his fingertips. This knowledge, however, was not something he was privy to knowing, as he was only looking for something cool to learn. But whenever he saw a technique or anything that he thought could be one, he quickly lost interest after reading the techniques name. He wanted something cool, something that he knew would impress everyone who passed, and he really doubted some fancy calligraphy or what looked like the doodles he did at his desk would provide that sort of thing.

It didn't help that his frustration was only growing the more and more he tugged away at the parchment of this big ass scroll.

"Seriously, what's the big deal with this thing, all the jutsu in this thing sound so _lame_." It was a rhetorical statement, though that was obvious since he was sitting in freakin the woods by himself. "I mean, come on, _Hakke no Fūin Shiki_? That thing looked like something a kid would scribble on a piece of paper to me. "

Having laminated on the obviously poor taste of whoever made these techniques, Naruto soon began to realize the problem accumulating at his feet. He had been tugging at this thing for what felt like ten minutes now, and from what he could tell he wasn't even a quarter of the way through the entire scroll. Sooner or later, Mizuki was going to show up, and he needed something to practice for him to pass his test. But so far nothing caught his attention, nothing at all, aside from the very first technique he saw on the scroll. As much as he hated the idea, the Uzumaki had to come to terms with the fact that he was stressed for time and he couldn't really afford to be picky at this point.

This was his only shot at passing now, and if he failed here then he would have wasted a lot of time for nothing and be forced to repeat the academy for the fourth time. Such a conclusion was not something he would let happen if he could help it. So, with more than a few grumbled complaints, the lad began the task of rolling the scroll back to its original state.

During this process, however, Naruto's fingers had been close to the parchment's edge and in the process of rolling it back up caused the thin edge of the paper to break through his skin.

"Ouch!" It wasn't much, but the few droplets of blood that oozed out from the thin line on his finger went airborne as the blonde hastily removed his hand from the parchment's edge. Most of those droplets of blood flew harmlessly onto the grass below, but a few specks still spattered onto the black swirling pattern inscribed on the parchment. "Geez, this just isn't my da-"

His words were abruptly cut off by the distinct 'pop' that was commonly associated with standard academy techniques. Said disturbance even came with an equally distinct cloud of smoke which quickly filled his vision. The coughing fit that ensued inevitably made him release his hold the large scroll as he stepped out of the cloud that suddenly appeared. What he didn't pick up on was the sound of something clattering to the ground not far from where the scroll had originally been situated upright, though he did make out the dull thud of the scroll hitting the dirt. As the smoke cleared and his coughing ceased, deep blue sphere's wildly searched for the source of the sudden cloud and the noise he had prior.

His peers could say what they will, in fact so could his teachers, but Naruto was not so touched in the head to not take note of the obvious. Laying not far from the heap of remaining parchment of the scroll was an object that had not been there previously. At first glance it looked like a massive cocoon made of wood and tree bark, but his curiosity peaked and thus enticed him into inspecting it further. After a few prods of his finger he found that he was right, it was made of wood, and from what he could tell its length was almost as tall as he was. Yet, even as he remained crouched there prodding it, he was still curious as to what this... _thing_ was.

"O-kay, this is weird." Why he continued to poke at it as if expecting some reaction was beyond anyone's guess. "What the hell are you supposed to be, a tree turd or some un-hatched egg of a forest creature?"

Another, harsh, jab to the object effectively forced it to roll slightly from its original position. This slight adjustment allowed for the boy to take note of what looked like a opening along with the broken chucks of wood that had broken off. Evidently the impact of it landing on solid earth had caused it to break apart, which grew increasingly obvious thanks to the web of cracks that were rising from the same opening. For a moment, he almost thought he had hit the nail on the head with his guess portraying to what the thing was.

That moment had been a fleeting one when he poked it again and the slight gap he saw before turned into a much wider opening as more wood flaked off. It was because of the moon's glow in the sky that allowed him to see the faint visage of something inside the cocoon of wood. At that point, curiosity was now guiding every movement he made, despite his own childish fears regarding the thing's contents.

One final shove was all that was needed to fully expose the gaping hole that it now sported along with the contents inside this strange pod-like thing of wood.

What Naruto found made his face scrunched up in a notably puzzled manner.

"A sword?"

Indeed, within the wooden pod lay a simple yet very old looking katana. What made it somewhat strange was how it was secured inside, as it appeared as though the roots and vines themselves were supporting it from the inside, suspending it in a manner that placed it right in the center of the wooden pod. Under normal circumstances, one would have noted that such a thing was not normal by any means and conclude that there was something peculiar about this strange arrangement. Naruto, however, didn't much care for these things and simply did the first thing that came to mind upon seeing it.

Sinking his hand into the hollow pod and, with a bit of exertion, pried the blade from its container as the vines and roots snapped and broke apart.

"Hmm, who'd put a katana in a place like that? Pretty cool, I gotta admit, but still." As that thought came and went, another one came that almost made his eyes light up with excitement. "Oh! Maybe this thing is like one of those legendary katana that can cut through metal and stuff! That's gotta be it! Why else would anyone put it something like that if it wasn't some badass legendary weapon?"

To be fair, his logic did have some merit behind it, as it was a very strange form of housing for a blade.

His excitement, however, was short-lived as he partially removed the saya only to be greeted with the sight of a rusty, chipped, and overall battered looking blade. Now he wasn't a specialist when it came to weaponry, hell he wasn't a specialist in anything except annoying people, but even he knew enough about weapons to know what was good and what wasn't. This thing he was holding, this old or possibly ancient weapon, was the biggest piece of crap he had ever laid eyes on. And this time, unlike his reaction to seeing the first technique on the scroll, he could actually feel the twitching of his brow as well as the headache that was brewing.

It was official, today was a day of disappointments.

"Damn it, damn it, _damn it!_ Every time, _every time_ , I think something good is finally coming my way it turns out to be just another piece of crap! First the clone jutsu and now this thing!? Come on already, what's a guy gotta do to get a little slack every now and then, huh!? Once, _just once_ , can something go the way I want it to and get something that's actually worth a damn!?"

It went without saying that this was, in all likelihood, a byproduct of his pent-up frustrations finally reaching a boiling point. The combination of his aggravation as well as disappointment was something that should not be bottled up like he had been doing up to this point. The fact that he was now a panting mess and nursing a sore throat upon letting loose those words only served to further prove that fact. Still, having taken a few moments to cool off, Naruto's breathing eventually evened out before sparing the sword still in his hand a dirty look. Without much care, he dropped the sheathed blade to the ground before picking up the scroll still unraveled and laying in the grass to continue with his previous task.

"Stupid scroll, stupid clones, stupid katana." This sort of grumbling continued for the better part of a few minutes until the majority of the parchment had been rolled back to how it was when he got it. Well, more or less anyway, for the blonde was still staring at the very first jutsu that had been listed there, eye twitching as he glared at the kanji printed innocently on the paper in front of him. "...screw it, I need to learn something out of this thing, and so far you're the only thing that I've seen that looks like it's worth a damn."

So, with that in mind, Naruto sat himself back onto the grass and began to read the instructions inscribed on the old parchment. Time became nothing more than a word to him once he finished raveling the scroll and started the long and harsh process of learning that which he had read. The sweat was real, the fatigue even more so than that, but so were the fruits that gave birth from that effort. He could see it too, he saw it with each failed attempt and each inch of progress that was made. Slow and steady, harsh and unrelenting, his body pleading him to stop but he preserved, he endured, from each bead of sweat to each haggard breath he endured.

He wasn't going be fall behind again, he wouldn't _let_ himself be left in the dust for a third time.

Naruto was either going to become a shinobi tonight or be nothing for the rest of his days.

Such was the mindset belonging to that of a single determined soul.

Eventually, however, his body's protests would not stand being ignored any longer. As the last plume of smoke finally dissipated, the orange garbed boy collapsed on his rear as his heart thumped loudly in his ears. He was drenched, he was exhausted, and he was going to need more than a few cups of ramen when he got home. And yet Naruto felt an overwhelming sense of pride in himself for the feat in which he had made possible. He had done what he came here for, he had learned the technique from the scroll, and he was damn happy about it too. So happy that he hardly noticed that his hand had found itself on the smooth wood belonging to the sheathed blade he had discarded earlier. His body so tired that he didn't hear the arrival of a certain individual due in part to his still thumping heartbeat pounding loudly in his ears.

It was only after he had noticed that he was sitting in the shadow of someone that the blonde boy finally took notice to the new arrival.

Who he saw positively surprised and excited him beyond all measure; despite how angry the Chuunin instructor seemed to be.

"Heh, I finally found you Naruto." The level of anger that was present in the man's tone would have normally been something Naruto would have found intimidating. The fact that Iruka was chuckling somewhat may or may not have made the image more menacing had this been any other situation. "Do you even understand how much trouble you're in right now?"

Trouble or no trouble, Naruto didn't seem to be too bothered by the Chuunin's current ire; in fact he was clearly glad to have been caught. The fact that he had the gall to appear sheepish rather than scared or surprised actually drew in the scarred man's curiosity spike to a great degree.

"Geez, that was fast, you're pretty good sensei." The cheeky remark was delivered with an equally cheeky grin as he continued to scratch at his neck. Clearly he had no shame, but who cared about that when he was as excited as he was in this moment? "I thought I would've had more time to learn another jutsu from this thing. Guess I might as well throw that idea out the window then huh?"

Iruka almost bashed the child's head in upon hearing this particular comment. Had he not heard the boy claim to have already learned something from it, he probably would have carried out that task. The fact that he didn't was a testament to his awareness to the boy's current state of fatigue. It was honestly the first time he had truly seen the boy look so physically exhausted in a very long time and only further proved that there was some truth in the boy's words. Now Iruka had known Naruto since he joined the academy and even in the early years he could bring himself to admit that the boy was not one who was easily tired out.

For Naruto to be in such a state was a feat in itself; the fact that he had claimed to have learned anything from such a scroll was something else entirely. Though he had to wonder why the blonde was currently in the possession of a katana of all things, much less had it with him all the way out here in the woods.

"Okay, so now that I've learned a jutsu from this scroll, all I've gotta do is show you and I'll pass the exam, right?"

All thoughts regarding the sword were eradicated from scarred Chuunin's mind once he was addressed with that question.

"Eh?"

That had been the intelligent response which emerged from a very bewildered Chuunin.

"...what, isn't that how this test works?" Apparently this reaction bewildered Naruto as well, as he, now standing, stared up at his teacher with a rather lost look in his eyes. When the man continued to look back him with the same lost expression as he did, the lad in orange continued in hopes of jogging the man's memory. "Mizuki-sensei told me about this test, said that if I got the scroll and learned a jutsu from it, I could pass and become a shinobi like everyone else this year...But he _did_ say it was a secret, so maybe you just didn't know about it like everyone else."

That was impossible because if such a test did exist then Iruka would have obviously known about it. There was no secret about this and this was no test, this had been a set-up and the person who was pulling the strings was Mizuki. He had initially wondered where the man had gone off too after the graduation ceremony had run its course, same with Naruto as well. Now that this piece of knowledge was attained, he understood what was at work here and knew what needed to be done in that instant. He needed to get Naruto as well as the scroll out of here and inform the Hokage of Mizuki's treachery. Such was the action he was about to take and with great haste had he not heard the something approaching from the distance.

This disturbance signified the arrival of the traitorous Chuunin and with his arrival eventually came the revelation of a certain truth.

A truth that wasn't meant to ever be brought to light.

The truth regarding night which the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the demon that ravished their village twelve years ago, was supposedly slain.

* * *

Truth, in many ways, can be far more devastating than any lie one can conceive.

People are more than likely to accept what they know is a lie than they are to accept what is the undeniable truth. That was why fiction was often the much better alternative, the more appealing option, than to stare at the grim face of reality. Naruto was no exception, he loved fiction, the story of a hero saving the day, being the shinobi without a name who beats the bad-guy and rescues some noble princess. He liked it because it was cool, he liked it because in that shinobi's place, he would have a visage of himself and it would be his name that those same people chanted before the credits rolled.

It was always much better in those settings, it was always better to briefly pretend to be that person, before stepping outside and finding himself alone with no one beside him.

"I'm not the Kyuubi..."

Unfortunately, at some point, Naruto always had to accept that he was alone and there was no one beside him. He always had to come to terms with every waking moment of life since as far back as he could remember. Each time he saw parents pick up their children, every time he sat by himself at the playground, every time he went back to an empty, silent, and cold flat which he lived in. There had been times where he questioned why, in fact many times he made that simple inquiry to himself, yet there was never an answer to be had. The lack of friends, the utter disregard of his existence, those and much more were questions he would always ask, yet no answer came.

"I'm not the Kyuubi..."

Now, after twelve years of silent curiosity, he finally received the answer he had always been asking himself. And the answer itself could not have been any harsher than all those years of loneliness that he had endured. The Uzumaki of course denied it, he didn't believe it and he wasn't going to, but that was just denial. He didn't want to believe it, but everything that had transpired in his life all pointed to that being the cause of it all. It made sense, it explained a great deal, so by all accounts Mizuki must have been telling the truth. While the lad didn't have any reason to believe him since he had already been tricked into stealing the scroll, he would have had no reason to lie about something that would have him killed just for speaking it out loud.

"I'm not..."

He didn't care that his lungs felt as though they were on fire as he ran as fast as he could. There was no shred of concern for such things when his fragile soul was on the verge of breaking into pieces. Because of his distraught and stressed mental state, it was forgivable of him to stumble at some point in his mad dash and fall forward onto the forest floor. His body skid against the grass as his grip on the sword he was still carrying in his hand loosened and clattered a few feet in front of his prone form. For a moment, Naruto just wanted to lay there motionless and wish for just a moment that he could be someone else in the world. Whatever pain he suffered here was nothing in comparison to the pain that was tearing away at his heart; to him it felt as though a hand was gripping the organ and squeezing it with all its might.

"I'm..."

Boy's don't cry, so they say, and that was something Naruto had not done in a very long time. Tears didn't make lessen the pain, it didn't then and it certainly wouldn't now. He knew that, but every part of his being wanted to as he laid their hopelessly trying to cope with the knowledge that had been thrown into his face not long ago. Yet, even in this situation, he wasn't given the chance as the rustling of twigs and leaves suddenly alerted the blonde to someone's presence in the trees above. Frightened and alarmed, the orange clad youth hastily adjusted himself to a crouching position, scooped up the sword, and made a beeline for the nearest trunk near him.

After a slight adjustment of the strap on the scroll, the boy pressed his back against the tree as he peered passed it; just in time to see Iruka come crashing down from the trees. He almost cried out in concern had he not seen himself descending from the trees as well. He didn't need to be a genius to figure out who was who, though he had to retreat back behind his cover since Mizuki was looking in the general direction he was currently hiding.

"H-how did you-"

There was a bit of a chuckle here as 'Naruto' eased himself down onto the gross before a familiar cloud of smoke revealed him for who he was.

"Because _I am_ Iruka."

Naruto, for his part, didn't dare to reveal himself here, despite the clear concern regarding the safety of his teacher. He had already received several injuries back when Mizuki first arrived and had even taken one of those giant shuriken's just to protect him. By all accounts, even he knew that someone that wounded was not going to be much a match against someone who has thus far only sustained minimal damage.

"Tch, I don't understand this, this thing you've got going on right now." The confusion was present in his tone, but it was mostly outweighed by the level of frustration that was lacing his words. "Why are you protecting that monster? After what it did to your family, what it did _to_ _you_ as a result, you choose to defend it? Why Iruka, why do that when you could become a hero to this village by killing that beast once and for all?"

There were no words that followed these questions, to which Naruto himself was also curious about as well. Why was Iruka trying so hard to protect him? Why hadn't he joined Mizuki and instead chose to keep him safe? It didn't make much sense to him either, but apparently the traitorous chuunin found his ex-comrade's silent defiance to be irksome. Naruto didn't have to use much of his imagination to envision the sneer that was likely on the man's face as he looked at the opposing chuunin in disgust and contempt.

"Heh, you know, that brat's probably long gone by now. If the other Jounin don't catch him, he might even use the jutsu in that scroll to come back and finish what it started. Wouldn't that be a ironic if the monster you helped get away ended up coming back to burn this village and everyone in it to the ground? That's what monster's do after all, so in that sense I guess me and him are not so different wouldn't you say Iruka?"

For his part, the Uzumaki was honestly expecting for his teacher to remain silent, to maintain it and refuse to even grace the bastard with a reply.

"You're right, that is what a monster would do."

But Iruka _did_ give the man an answer and it was the wrong one. The boy could feel his grip tighten on the sword still in his hand and his teeth sinking into his lip as he tried to distract himself from the pain throbbing in his chest.

"But Naruto is not a monster, never was and never will be. He may not be as smart as some others, may not be as dedicated as them either, but he understands what it means to suffer, to be truly alone in this world. Despite everything that he is, despite all his faults, that boy is not the Kyuubi no Kitsune; he is not the demon that took my parents from me. No, he is one of my excellent students, he is part of the whole that makes up Konohagakure no Sato, and that boy you call a monster has a name Mizuki; that name being Uzumaki Naruto!"

In the wake of that proud announcement, that declaration of acknowledgement, the vice which had been tightly wrapped around his aching heart had finally been removed. That pain in his chest was now gone and in its place came the choked sobs as he remained where he was. He wasn't a monster, he wasn't the Kyuubi, and Iruka had acknowledged that he existed as a person; not as a beast. It took every ounce of restraint he had in his body to keep from succumbing to his own happiness and relief, after having lived for so long being ignored to finally have someone truly accept him as he was.

The fact that his hand was starting to hurt due to the intensity of his grip on the sword still in his possession certainly did wonders as a tool to distract him. Sadly, Mizuki didn't feel as touched by the fellow Chuunin's words; if anything he looked both astonished and disgusted.

Too bad since it was a rather impressive declaration.

"Well then, if that's how it's gonna be, then I guess I'll go ahead and take care of you now instead of later like I originally intended." The sound of the large shuriken being removed from the clip on his back was easily distinguishable to anyone even remotely near the area. "It a shame really, you could've been a hero to this worthless village, but since you're so eager to side with that monster..."

Without any warning other than the rush of the wind as the massive weapon was spun in his hand, Mizuki charged forward with the clear intent of ending the man's life. Iruka, because of his current state, remained where he was as he prepared to prime the explosive tag that he had in his hand to explode. He would not live passed this day, but he would at least ensure that his student would live and not be pursued by the traitor. He wasn't even thinking about the scroll anymore, at this point that was more of a secondary objective than anything else.

So long as Naruto was safe and this bastard was dead, then he would gladly give up his life without regrets.

That was his plan anyway, but that plan was thwarted when a blur of orange sudden rushed out of seemingly nowhere. Said orange blur was met with no resistance as the still sheathed katana was swung like a club right into the approaching Chuunin's face; catching him right in the side of his head just short of Mizuki's left temple. So caught-off by this abrupt attack, Mizuki lost control of the shuriken and thus accidentally throwing it up into the trees causing it to shred through several branches overhead.

This inadvertently caused the moon which hug high above them all to illuminate the area in which the three males were located; the glow casting a rather intimidating shadow on the boy who was now standing firmly in-between the two downed Chuunin.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on my sensei, you bastard."

The amount of righteous fury in those otherwise vibrant blue eyes were probably enough to warrant him being called a monster; but he didn't care.

He didn't care because he had something worth standing up for.

He didn't care because, despite what everyone else believed, he now had at least one person who acknowledged him for who he was.

And demon or not, he would be damned before he was going to let this scumbag take that away from him.

"So there you are, you fucking brat." Sneered out the Chuunin as he began to pick himself up off the ground, having shaken off the boy's attack for the most part. "You should have run when you had the chance, all you did was save me the trouble of finding you. Now I can get rid of both of you and get the scroll in one setting."

"Naruto, get out of here now! Don't get caught up in this and just run back to the village; I'll handle this!"

"Can't do that sensei, besides-" Having already made his intentions clear, the boy let the scroll fall to the ground whilst sticking the sword between the pit of his right arm; his fingers raised into a cross-shaped seal as he flashed the man the same cheeky grin he was known for over his shoulder. "I told you already that I learned something from this thing, didn't I?"

"Don't get cocky you little-"

" _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_ "

What followed this was nothing short of amazing and frightening to both Chuunin in the clearing. Everywhere from the ground below, to the branches above, there stood copies upon copies of the blonde haired youth all staring down the traitorous man who stood in the very center of the mass gathering. These clones weren't armless either, for each one was brandishing the same katana which Iruka had seen before. None of them were unsheathed, a fact that Iruka was silently slightly thankful for, as it seemed that Naruto had no intention of using lethal force here. Even so, each and every last copy of the boy grinned with mildly sadistic glee as they all watched the man panic from the sight of so many clones.

There were not just illusions, not transparent images, but solid replications of the real user.

"Hey, Mizuki-sensei, do you know what time it is?" It wasn't a serious question, but even if it had been there would have been no time for the man to give an actual reply. Because as quickly as one of the many Naruto's asked this question, another had already provided the answer in the man's stead. "It's time for a well-deserved beat-down, jackass!"

The cries that followed shortly after this announcement would either serve as fuel for a nightmare or someone's endless amusement. It wasn't long-lasting, the man had passed out at some point after the army of orange youths began beating the man senseless, though he honestly didn't realize he was unconscious until a bit afterwards. Needless to say, Mizuki was a bleeding and swollen mess on the ground by the time all of the clones had dispersed. With the brawl over and his clones now gone, he returned his attention back over to his injured teacher with no small amount of pride showing on his features.

Iruka, for his part, was not lacking in pride either; having witnessed what he had firsthand.

"Do you think I overdid it a bit there sensei?"

The scarred Chuunin briefly looked passed Naruto's visage to watch as the former instructor lay mostly motionless in the dirt. He would groan and twitch every so often, but aside from being on the receiving end of a very thorough ass-whooping he believed the man would live to serve for his crimes.

"Nope, I think he'll be fine for the most part...maybe." At this, both teacher and student shared a little chuckle as the former made a move to stand. "Hey, Naruto, could you come here for a second? I have something that belongs to you."

Confused as he was, the boy did as he was told, only to be then be asked to close his eyes. The urge to question what he wanted did rise, but he quelled it and continued to do as he was asked to do. There was no harm in it, Iruka had his trust, so whatever it was surely wouldn't be anything bad. When he suddenly felt his goggles being removed, the lids to his eyes almost cracked open, yet he didn't once he felt something else taking the same space shortly after. It was warm, whatever it was, and when he was given the okay to open his eyes he did. What he was greeted with was the proud face of his sensei, smiling as he held the former headgear in his hand.

But what Naruto took immediate notice to was the lack of the standard Konoha hitai-ate that was usually present on his person. It took a couple seconds, but it eventually clicked as to what he was now wearing. Disbelief was the first to arrive, only to make a hasty retreat when his trimbling fingers raised up to feel the smooth metal plate of what every shinobi of Konoha wore somewhere on their person.

"Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto, for you are now a shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato." Were the words which Iruka had long waited to say to his longstanding student. While he did not currently have the energy to say it with as much enthusiasm as he would have liked, he made up for it in how genuinely happy he was to see this day finally arrive. "And to celebrate, I think it's only fair that we make a little stop at Ichiraku's for a well deserved meal; my treat of course."

In the wake of disbelief's departure, something else could be felt bubbling up inside the boy's chest as he remained motionless. It was a lot to process, especially for someone like him who was way far off from being the brightest color in the box. For a moment he thought this was all a dream, that he would wake up any moment now and find himself back in that empty flat he called a home.

Confirmation was required in moments like these.

Naruto had to be absolutely sure that this was not a dream.

So what did he do?

"Helllll _**yes**_!" Simple: he let loose the loudest victory cry he could produce and practically tackled his teacher back into the tree. "I did it, I did it, I did it, I did it, _**I did it!**_ "

"Guh, ow! Hey, Naruto, calm down I'm injured remember!?"

This was no dream, he had really succeeded, he was now a real shinobi of Konoha and he doubted anything that happened to him in life would ever trump this moment. Naruto was not going to be left behind, he wasn't alone in this world anymore, and he could finally begin taking the first steps towards achieving that dream he was striving for. It wasn't out of his reach anymore, it wasn't something he could reach out to but never touch. The spark that had nearly dimmed and died away had been rekindled by this man and for that Naruto would forever remember this day for as long as he lived.

With so much joy filling his being, he didn't realize that he had dropped the sword he had since been holding onto for a good portion of the evening. It simply lay in the grass, the gold tsuba gleaming in the light of the morning sun from where it lay. Had Naruto still been holding it in that instant, he would have likely felt something akin to a pulse or ripple course through the inanimate object.

...or perhaps not, it's hard to say.

* * *

And as it began before, it begins anew.

Think if this chapter as a prelude to what's in store. My writing style has changed a lot since I started writing and I hope I established a decent balance between the dialog and the monologue with this chapter. If its not enough dialog it can be amended, not enough action well what do you expect? It's the first chapter of both the story and the manga; variations being obvious. I know that this doesn't seem so original at first, but give it time, this sort of chapter is kinda necessary as this is where he get's that oh-so-legendary sword from.

Thaaaaat and I'm hoping I hit the nail on the head with how obnoxious Naruto is in the very beginning. Not used to writing a canon-version of Naruto you see, so that's something I may need to get accustomed to.

Will I get flamed for this chapter? Likely, and I say bring it on. I'd love to hear what arguments and issues you critics wish to address to me; I'll answer them with genuine kindness. Otherwise, to those who enjoyed this, you have my thanks and I would like to hear some of the questions some of you may have.

I hope you all enjoyed my little piece of refurbished work and I look forward to seeing you all again next time.

 _Goodbye for now._


	2. The First Steps Forward

Greetings to all!

I wish to thank those who reviewed the first chapter and I'm glad to see that fan's of the original have decided to see where I'll take this new revised version of the story. It warms my frozen heart to see that, especially when I remember said fans who have read and reviewed. Makes me feel old, or maybe just brings back pleasent memories of the old days. Whatever the case, I'm glad to see some of you are still around and willing to give this a second chance. Now all that's left for me to do is ensure I don't ruin your expectations.

But enough of that, on to the second chapter of Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang!

* * *

 **Inuyasha and Naruto are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Mamashi Kishimoto respectfully; therefore I own nothing.**

* * *

Long wisps of smoke filled the rather clustered room which made up the Hokage's office as the strongest individual in the village stared down at his desk. Sarutobi Hiruzen, the man who was renown as the Shinobi no Kami, was currently perplexed in regards to what he was looking at. Or, perhaps, it was the lack of what he was looking at that perplexed him so much. Having returned the Fūin no Sho, the formerly retired shinobi had taken it upon himself to inspect it upon its recovery.

The reason for this inspection had much to do with the other object currently occupying his desk; the katana Naruto had claimed to have out of nowhere. Though the boy had mentioned that it had a container of sorts where he found it, no evidence remained of the 'tree turd', as Naruto took to calling it, located at in the place specified. Unfortunate as that was, it was still worth mentioning even if it didn't help the elderly Kage understand the significance of the sword itself.

The inspection did yield some results, he at least had an idea of how far into the scroll the boy had sifted through. Based on the bloodstains on the parchment and the vacant circle outline he could assume what had happened. That part wasn't what was difficult to understand, questionable as it was but nonetheless easy enough to grasp. What he didn't understand was why there would be an active containment seal inscribed in the scroll.

Most of what was written on this scroll were instructions and details regarding the technique or seal's purpose. Just as many things here were practically useless to those who did not have the aptitude for specific arts. He had the capability to do so because of his many years under the tutelage for the founding leaders of Konoha. In all likelihood, had Mizuki succeeded in his efforts to steal it, there would have been little to nothing he could do with it.

And yet, here he was, staring down at a blank containment seal and a katana which the former was used to house it.

For all his wisdom and experience, the Sandaime Hokage was at an utter loss.

The soft knocking of his office door fulfilled its purpose in breaking the elderly man from his musing as he tore his eyes away from the scroll. Taking another drag from his pipe, he called out to the individual behind the door to meet that of his secretary who was, for the most part, looked fairly exasperated. He could take a guess as to why, it would not have been difficult since there were only a handful of reasons why he would be wearing that sort of expression.

"He's here."

And wouldn't you know, his first guess would have been right on the money.

"Good, send him in please."

With a bow and a humbled remark, the man excused himself back into the hallway, though he must have only taken a few steps before a familiar boy swept passed him and into the office. The fact that he had accidently shoulder checked the larger male in the process was not missed, nor was the comment said male made as the boy had arrived. Nevertheless, Sarutobi Hiruzen only let out another stream of smoke as he simultaneously released a tired sigh.

"Naruto, I believe we discussed this before, but you cannot just barge in here like that."

"We did?" The Uzumaki in question, however, looked mildly puzzled as he scratched the side of his head in thought. "I don't remember, must've forgot or something."

"Clearly." Yeeeeah, Hiruzen wasn't buying the act one bit, but given what was to be discussed here, he would dismiss the matter for the time being. Clearing his throat, the man gestured the boy to take a seat , to which the Uzumaki complied without hassle. Though instead of sitting like he properly should, in front of the village leader no less, he had already leaning the furniture backwards leaving him to balance it on the back legs. All this did was make the older man pinch the bridge of his nose for a few moments, feeling quite fortunate to be alone in with the boy who was showing way too much disrespect towards his superior. "Please sit properly, this is important."

"Is this about that picture I brought in here yesterday? Or does it have to do with what happened with me and Konohamaru?" Oblivious, Naruto continued to balance himself on the chair whilst still maintaining the puzzled expression on his face. "I already retook the picture like you told me to and that closet pervert got what he had coming to him. So if that's what this is about, then-"

"I'm already aware of yesterday's occurrences and you did do as I asked; neither of which are the subject of this discussion." Having casually dismissed the two subjects, Hiruzen used his pipe as a pointer to draw the blonde's attention over to the sword that was brought upon returning the Fuin no Sho. "This katana that was seized after the incident evenings ago is what I wished to discuss with you, Naruto."

"Ooooh, wait, huh?" Now having his full attention, Naruto complied to his leader's whims, having leaned forward to pensive look at the sword, then at the aged male. "Why do we need to talk about that thing? It's just some beat-up katana that looks as old as you do."

"A charming observation, but from what I gather it is much, _much_ older than I am." Let it be never be said that a Hokage can't have a sense of humor. Crude as his humor, Naruto hardly meant anything by it and he himself was well aware of his own age. No point in being upset over something that's trivial to someone like himself. "In fact, I have not been able to conclude just how old this weapon is. Despite its age, however, the blade has not dulled in the slightest; clearly whomever forged it was master of their craft. That or perhaps the method in which it was preserved allowed for its sharpness to remain this pristine. "

Now the Uzumaki was getting bored of this topic. He really didn't care much about the craftsmanship of some old-ass sword he found in some wooden pod.

"Speaking of, you claimed it to have appeared at some point by a stroke of chance, correct?" Confusion aside, Hiruzen watched as the boy gave a slow nod before using his pipe once more to point at the very scroll he had stolen a few nights ago. "Then am I to presume the bloodstains I see here are yours?"

"Huh?" Taken aback by this, the blonde stood up to find, indeed, the parchment did have bloodstains on it. A second or two after this, his memory kicked in and a look of sheepish realization dawned onto his features. "Oh, heh, yeah that's from me. I was checking out all the jutsu in there for something to learn. I was rolling it back up when I got a stupid paper cut on the edge. Must've got on the paper when I wasn't looking, sorry 'bout that."

"It's of no consequence, but you must understand that you are being required to provide me with the absolute truth. You had gone quite far into the scroll in your search, further than anyone outside of myself has ever gone. I have already given you permission to use the _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ as you please, but if there was anything else you had learned or memorized from the scroll you are to tell me now."

While Sarutobi did not doubt his faith in the boy, he was still obligated to confirm the truth in regards to the _Fuin no Sho_ 'ssecrets. While its contents might not be of use to him, others could gain a great deal from even one of the techniques inside it. If Naruto was lying, if he had indeed learned something more and used it recklessly, it would cause potentially cause more harm than good; not just for the boy but for village itself. Again, Sarutobi had faith in the boy, but he had just as much reason to believe that boy could be withholding information for fear of being in greater trouble than he could handle. It wouldn't have been the first time that the blonde had done something of such a degree given the mischievous nature and high aspirations.

Thankfully, Naruto did his part in making the elderly man glad to have trusted him.

"Pff, yeah right, like I'm gonna remember any of those stupid drawings or lame ass jutsu from that thing." The Uzumaki openly stared at the parchment with blatant contempt and irritation. "I still don't see what the big deal is behind all those drawings and stuff I saw. Hey, jiji, what _is_ the deal behind all those scribbles and doodles anyway?"

The Sandaime merely chucked to himself as he took another long drag from his pipe. He had took a keen interest in watching the boy grow up these past twelve years, so it went without saying that he knew when he was lying and when he wasn't. He didn't need to be Hokage to do that, didn't need to have all the experience as a shinobi to do it either. Just being a former parent and current grandparent gave him enough experience to tell the difference. It certainly helped to know that Naruto was an honest kid, a misfit and a troublemaker, but still a mostly honest kid at heart.

"Perhaps I'll explain that to you on a different day." The intricate nature that made up Funinjutsu was definitely something that Naruto wouldn't appreciate or even remotely understand at this stage of his life. Maybe when he was older, two or four more years give or take, then maybe he would be able to grasp the concept behind that criteria of the shinobi arts. "For now, I believe I have confirmed my thoughts on this matter."

"Huh, really? Weren't we supposed to be talking about that sword?"

"Hm? Ah, that was just used as a catalyst to breach this particular subject. As you yourself said, it is just an old relic that was previously stored inside the scroll until you accidently released it. Aside from its sharpness, there does not appear to be anything peculiar about the weapon."

"Ooooh, I get it." No he didn't, but he could pretend that he did despite his efforts to appear smart being pointless in this scenario. "Soooo I'm not in any trouble?"

"Not unless you did something you weren't supposed to prior to coming here."

The nervous chuckle that comment enticed almost made the elderly man's gaze go stern. The term 'almost' being emphasized because the boy was more relieved than anything else. Although, in complete honesty, Hiruzen was half expecting some Chuunin to come barging into his office any moment now. When the seconds ticked by and nothing happened, his concerns were promptly dismissed as he took another drag from his pipe and exhaled the fumes from his barely parted lips. He was about to dismiss the young jinchuuriki when he took note of the fact that the said boy still looked nervous about something.

Well, he wouldn't say it nervousness, rather it looked as though he had something he wanted to address yet at the same time didn't want to ask.

"Is something on your mind, Naruto?"

"Eheh, um, yeah I guess." Undeterred from being called out, Naruto just continued to grin sheepishly at the old man whilst proceeding to scratch the nape of his neck as he spoke. "You said that sword was stored inside the scroll, right? Now that it's out, what're you gonna do with it?"

A single gray eyebrow rose curiously as he observed the blonde who all-too-suddenly became curious about the sword's fate. Admittedly, he already planned to put it back in its proper place inside the scroll where it had been prior it its release. Not that he understood why such a blade needed to be placed inside it in the first place. But now it seemed the young Uzumaki was curious about it and the renown shinobi could only guess why. It didn't surprise him in the least, or at least it shouldn't have, but it still didn't stop him from letting out a tired sigh as his fingers once again found themselves pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Naruto, I can only assume what you are going to ask, and the answer is no."

"But-"

"No Uzumaki, that's final."

"Oh come on Jiji! What are you gonna do with that thing anyway, hang it up on the wall or something?"

A tempting idea, now that he mentioned it, but that was besides the point. At least the orange clad youth had confirmed his thoughts regarding his sudden interest in it.

"I am going to put it back where it belongs, as is customary when someone or something removes it from its proper place. You have already been given permission to use a jutsu from that scroll, you deserve to use it after learning it and using it to bring the scroll back to me. But that was your reward for your efforts in bringing Mizuki back to receive proper justice. Do not become greedy or expect any more generosity from me in regards to what you did that night."

"Haven't you ever heard of 'finders keepers' jiji? I'm the one who found it and it only showed up when I had the stupid scroll! Besides, a lot of the other kids have cool jutsu and stuff that I don't have. The clones are okay I guess, but what good's that if I've got nothing else to back them up with? And you just said that it's nothing special or anything, the thing's just sharp, so what the big deal about actually putting it to use?"

"Naruto, for all I know, this blade can be an artifact or an heirloom from a time before Konoha was even founded. To carelessly pass such a relic on to someone else would be ill-advised by anyone; much less myself. Artifacts like these are considered priceless, they make up our village's history, and as such are required to be preserved for sake of-"

"Yeah, yeah, geez you sound just like Iruka-sensei." Hiruzen was glad he was still wearing his hat, otherwise the protruding vein on his forehead might have caught the boy's notice. "Still though, if you're not gonna do anything with it and its not one of those legendary swords, then what's the problem with letting me use it? It beats leaving it behind to collecting dust and being a waste of space."

By all accounts, Naruto was not doing a good job in his argument to claim the sword under his ownership. All he was doing was repeating himself and what made this sad was that he was most likely unaware of it. Perhaps he thought if he repeated himself enough times the Sandaime would relent; which was not the case. In all actuality it was just irksome and was just pestering opposed to being an argument; like a child begging their parents to buy them a toy or snack. And in any other situation, Sarutobi would have treated this situation the same way he treated his sons and grandson when they did the same thing.

But there were certain circumstances which made the aged leader actually give it more thought. His vision periodically shifting between the blank circular outline where the storage seal once was, the bloodstains where the seal used to be, the katana, and finally the blonde youth.

Said circumstances went beyond what he was willing to share openly with the lad at the moment. Those same conditions were also the sole reason why he was even contemplating the idea of humoring the blonde's request. All the same, he did have it on good grounds to deny him anyway since it was still an artifact from an old age. Naruto wouldn't be happy about the latter, but he would eventually get over it and carry on with his career regardless. The former, however, wouldn't likely instill too many issues either since there really didn't seem to be anything unique about the sword in any way aside from its age.

Both sides of the spectrum ended in a relatively positive outcome, though one would start out negatively for a short time and even that would be short-lived.

His decision here was all based on his generosity, on how much he was willing to let Naruto get away with. As Hokage, he couldn't allow himself to pick and choose favorites, but in the same vein he was entitled to do what he deemed was the correct course of action. Having said that, Hiruzen came to a conclusion that would benefit both of them in some way.

"How about we strike a compromise, a deal if you will, regarding the ownership of this blade?" Speaking as plumes of smoke drifted out with each word, he gave the boy a challenging, yet lighthearted, expression that had attracted boy's attention like a magnet. "I will lend it to you for now, but on the day of your orientation, you will be informed of a certain condition that you must fulfill before I grant you official ownership of that sword. Should you fulfill that requirement, you will be permitted to keep it, otherwise, if you fail, you will return it to me without complaint."

There was a pause here as the boy took a few seconds to process the arrangement that his leader had proposed. Why he had to wait until his orientation was the first question that came to mind, but dismissed it. Maybe the old man needed time to think up a fair condition or something along those lines? Whatever, he was fine with waiting until then since he was still getting a chance to use the thing for a while. As far as the conditions for success and failure went, it sounded pretty fair to him compared to what they could have been. In a way, it reminded him of a punishment game or one of those rites of passage he heard about.

Either way, the terms seemed fair enough, and he trusted the Sandaime to keep his word; a sentiment he would begrudgingly return if it came down to it.

"Deal!' Exclaimed the boy with the grin many had come accustomed to before making a beeline for the sword. "Just try not to get too surprised when I win this thing fair and squire Jiji."

His fingers had barely been on the smooth surface of the sheath for a second before his ears caught the sound of Ssarutobi clearing his throat. Once he looked up, an old wrinkled hand was left outstretched towards him in a gesture that even he understood. Customary handshake to affirm that both parties agreed to the terms and were fully prepared to comply upon the wager's conclusion. Of course Naruto didn't particularly like such a formal manner of things like these; though there was no specific reason why he didn't like it either. Regardless, his grin didn't dim in the slightest, lightly slapping the extended hand with his own, before properly gripping the weapon and making his exit.

"Wasn't planning to lose anyway Jiji, so thanks for givin' me five ahead of time!"

Hiruzen had only a few moments to react after the boy had done this; spending those moment blinking as he watched Naruto's form disappear passed the doorway. This almost owlish reaction softened into one of utter amusement whilst his extended hand moved to stroke his beard. That sort of enthusiasm was always a treat to behold, especially when he had seen how depressed the boy had been a few days ago. As informal as he was, the Uzumaki had agreed to the terms, so all that was left to be done was wait and see how things unfolded in the days to come.

Still, the amusement ebbed out of features as his eyes drifted back towards the scroll and the now blank space where sealing inscriptions once resided. That had been no ordinary containment seal either, those were much more commonplace than what this one had been composed of. Or perhaps it was better to say the originator of that seal, as their works have been extinct for well over a few decades now. His confusion was not due to the happenings of how Naruto, in a stroke of luck no less, released its contents from its prolonged time of containment.

His curiosity stemmed from a combination of both the seal and the weapon.

"What is so important about the sword that warranted the Uzumaki Clan to seal it away?"

Such was the question that Hiruzen would continue to ponder well into the day, as well as the days that followed.

* * *

One would be inclined to question the reasoning behind the seemingly impulsive desire that took place then. It was to be expected since, a few days ago, the Uzumaki had chalked the weapon to being equivalent to a piece of crap. He had no reason to deny it, in fact he still had that belief. By admitting that, what was the reasoning behind obtaining that sword; why would he want something he already had a negative opinion about?

The answer was simple: he wanted it because it was free.

Yes, it was garbage and rusty, and chipped, and overall an old ass sword; but it was still something he got at seemingly no cost.

One could say what they will, he would have ignored it anyway, because free stuff was free stuff regardless of condition. Sure he was only borrowing it for now, so technically it wasn't his, but it soon it would be; of that he was sure. But attaining it without cost was not the only reason he wanted it in the first place. Using it against Mizuki had actually been more exhilarating than he thought, granted he was using it more like a club than an actual sword.

But that was why he wanted it, he wanted it because he liked the idea of using it for real like those swordsmen he had seen in both movies and in real life. The latter wasn't something he had personally witnessed, more like seen shinobi carrying as they were in the village and such. Even so, the movies did a good job at painting a fantasy that he could someday turn into a reality for himself in his own career.

Was that a bad thing? Probably, but everyone had to start somewhere in their careers and it wasn't like Naruto had much else. He didn't have 'cool jutsu' that some of the other kids did, nor was he as good at Taijutsu as someone like Uchiha Sasuke.

"Tch, bastard." Muttered the boy as his thoughts became vocalized, his fist tightening around the sword as he continued to hastily move through the back roads of the village. "Bet he won't ever be as good with a sword as I am after I get the hang of it."

Uchiha Sasuke, the only survivor of the Uchiha massacre that happened many years ago. Naruto personally didn't know much about that incident, didn't care as much about it at the time. Granted, he felt bad because the guy had lost everything that day, a fact that Naruto could relate too in some degree. But Sasuke didn't have any problems getting people's attention, didn't even have to try to get it either, and that irked the blonde beyond measure. Not just that, but Sasuke was good at everything the academy taught them, from techniques to hand-to-hand combat; everything the guy touched he was good at it.

Meanwhile Naruto stood at the sidelines, watching as everyone complimented the boy for his success, and listen to the laughs of everybody else at his own failures.

Needless to say Naruto had more than a few reasons to feel jealous of the attention Sasuke always seemed to get from teachers and students alike. But that was all going to change starting today, because he was going to be learning how to use a sword! Surely that was something that Sasuke _wasn't_ going to be good at, right? Target practice was one thing, but fighting with a sword was something that the academy had not trained anyone in doing; that was something students had to invest their own time into doing if they were aware of it. At least that's what Naruto thought anyway and, surprisingly, that assumption was indeed correct.

Kenjutsu was not something that was learned in the academy as it was not an essential category when placed among the likes of Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and Genjutsu. All three of those were commonly used across every nation, whereas Kenjutsu was not nearly as common. Hence why it wasn't part of the academy's curriculum, as it made more sense to put emphasis on the basics rather than do so on sub-categories that were not as commonplace.

Naruto, who was poor in nearly all three categories, would obviously have no idea what he was doing if he went into his career as he was. But that was why he was doing this, why he was quickly approaching the entrance to the nearest training ground he could find. He wanted to get better so when his shinobi life started he wouldn't be behind everyone else. If he had to be good at something, he might as well go with something that nobody in his class was good at. At least then, no matter what team he was with, they couldn't call him bad at an art that they themselves weren't good at either. So, in a way, it was a countermeasure of sorts to anyone's taunts; which would have been a good idea had Naruto actually thought of it like that.

Fact of the matter was that he didn't; he just wanted something to gloat about.

"Alright, let's get started!"

Having arrived at his destination, he took a look at his surroundings and took immediate notice to the thick log posts at few dozen meters from his person. The clearing was seemed pretty barren and looked as though it had seen much use due to the patches of dirt and gravel leading all the way up to tree line. At the edge of the area were some other paths that cut into the forest beyond, meaning there were likely other training areas further into the woods, but he wasn't about to go that far in. He came here to train, that was his intent, and the sooner he got started the sooner he could get an understanding on how he was supposed to use the weapon that was loaned to him.

It wasn't until he approached the log posts that he decided to unsheathe the blade from its scabbard; only to cringe at the sight which beheld him.

"...I can't get over how bad you look..." Admitted the blonde, looking at the blade with a mixture of repulsion and disappointment. "...dunno if I should just keep the sheath on it or not..."

Sighing dejectedly, he let the sheath fall to the ground before taking on a stance he assumed was correct. At least he tried to anyway, as raising the blade upright with one hand proved to be a significant challenge due to the sword's natural weight. Based on the way he was holding it, his body straight with only his right shoulder and the blade's edge facing at the post, he was unintentionally doing a fencing post. Only the blade fell much shorter than intended, making him appear as though he was going for a thrusting motion rather than making a stance. Having gotten tired of trying, Naruto simply gave up on maintaining the stance and blindly made his first swing towards the post.

Said strike promptly bounced off the log and left only a faint line of the wood as a result.

Worse yet, Naruto could practically hear the hum of the blade as the rebound from this swing vibrated from the blade all the way up to his hand.

"...okay, not working."

Having acknowledged that, well, the sword was heavy to wield one-handed, the Uzumaki shifted tactics a bit and went with the alternative and properly faced the post and gripped the hilt with both hands. Almost instance success came to mind when the weight became much more bearable, enough success to warrant him grinning as he reared back for another swing. This time the blade didn't bounce off, this time the sharp edge of the sword cut deep enough into the post to cause chips of wood to flake down onto the ground. The problem? Naruto had swung in an angle, and because of that, as well as putting a little too much strength in his swing, he ended up getting the blade caught inside the log itself.

"..."

A certain Uzumaki was starting to get annoyed with this little activity already.

Worse than that, five minutes hadn't even passed yet.

Not so quietly Naruto went to work on wrenching the sword free from the post, his teeth grinding not out of effort but more out of annoyance. Holding the sword worked better than the first time, but what was the point of that if the sword was going to get stuck every time he hit the post with it? It was already aggravating him, more so than he thought possible considering how easy it looked on the outside looking in.

"Geez, how am I supposed to train with this thing if its just gonna get stuck!?"

Arms crossed, vein exposed, and glaring down at the innocent sword that somehow managed to hold a gleam in the sunlight despite its rough exterior. His fingers tapped against his arm as he pondered on how he was to proceed from this point onward. He wasn't going to stop practicing with it, not when he had at least two more days until his orientation at the academy. But already things weren't looking well for him, already he had hit a snag on his little plan to improve himself before that time came. It wasn't like he could ask anyone to train with, he didn't have any friends or anyone who would want to train with him in the first place. He didn't have anyone other than himself to train with...anyone other than himself...

"OH!" The metaphorical light bulb lit up as he quickly scooped up the weapon, sheathed it, and stuck it between the pit of his arm as he formed his new favorite seal. " _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!"

A pop and cloud of smoke later, yet another young wide grinning blonde stood parallel to the original in the center of the clearing. Much like the last time he had done this, his clone had the sword as well and was already moving to hold it properly as he did before. Likewise the original followed suit and, like the clone, didn't remove the sheath as he raised his own weapon in the ready position. Thankfully there was a big enough gap between where the original was situated and the clone that had popped into existence. Not close enough to swing and immediately hit something, but not far enough that would entice either into running.

So when the clone's foot inched forward, Naruto took that as a indication to start and promptly moved forward a few paces, lowering the weapon and thrusting it at...himself. For its part, the clone merely sidestepped it before raising the weapon higher and bringing it downwards as quickly as possible, to which the original quickly raised his own weapon horizontally over his head; his left hand gripping the sheath for added security. The loud clap of wood connecting rung out as a result of the two sheathed weapons connecting, though neither original or fake stayed in that position long as both quickly retreated back to avoid retaliation.

Baby steps, baby steps, that was this was all about.

Having taken the imitative the first time, the cloned blonde went in for the aggressive approach this time. Instead of an overhead strike life or thrust, the clone made his approach with the weapon poised for a wide horizontal sweep. Naruto didn't need to be skilled to see that move coming and promptly back stepped once more to avoid it, taking the moment to adjust the weapon and bringing it down as sharply as possible to the exposed clone's head. Unfortunately, the clone didn't need to be skilled either to read the signs of a counter, thus why it quickly swung the sheathed blade in where the copy met once again with that of the original.

This harsh contact was enough to cause the latter to temporarily lose his handling as it shot back from the force, the left hand having lost its grip while the right struggled to stay on. Having an opening to exploit, the clone wasted no time in continuing the attack and swung the weapon in the same manner as a club its creator's ribcage.

And this time it connected.

"Guh!" And apparently it _really_ fucking hurt. "Gahah damn it, my ribs, damn it, you bastard, damn it. "

Blinking as the creator clutched his now aching side with his free hand, the clone loosened its posture seeing as how its partner was in obvious pain from the blow.

"...you okay?"

"What do you think idiot, of course I'm not!"

It didn't cross his mind that his clone could get pissed off at this remark, never mind the fact that he was essentially calling himself an idiot.

"Hey! Don't get mad at me because you suck!"

Well, on the bright side, at least the orange clad youth had learned two things already. One his clones really were like him in every way and two even they could tell that he sucked at Kenjutsu. How ironic that in this situation he couldn't even tell off his clone because, based on his clone scoring the first hit, it was seemingly better at it than he was.

Infuriating!

"Say that again, go ahead, say it and see if I don't kick your ass!"

"Bring it on, see how that turns out after I knock your teeth in, jackass!

It would have been comedic if it wasn't so pathetic. Creator and clone, fighting amongst themselves, and doing every little thing they could to entice the other to attack. Of course, in the grand scheme of things, the clone would win for one very simple reason. The bruises it made on the creator would stay long after it was gone, though on the flipside one hit would spell its own doom. Even with that knowledge, it would forever have the last laugh and that was the part that made this whole scenario such a sad sight.

...additionally, Naruto had learned one extra thing during the course of this training session.

His clones were a bunch of assholes.

* * *

Let it never be said that the life of a shinobi was an easy one. Many could serve as living testament to the harsh realities of this lifestyle without even having to say a single word. The scars that those men and women wore were not always visible on the surface, some scars dug much deeper than any physical wound could ever dream of doing. Life could be cruel, it could be devastating, and in some cases it utterly destroyed the reality that made up a person's world forever. Sadly enough, that wasn't even taking into account the shinobi lifestyle and the things which they experience or endure simply out of duty.

Such was the reason why not every person could handle this treacherous lifestyle and the hordes upon hordes of hurdles it constantly obscured their paths.

To live as a shinobi, one must be willing to jump over those hurdles each time they appeared; regardless of how sudden or how high they needed to jump to clear it.

A shinobi was meant to endure, to persevere, and carry onwards no matter what obstruction stands in their path.

But a shinobi was still a man, a shinobi was still human, and like any human rest was a necessity. In some cases, rest was a luxury and among one of the few comforts which they were allowed themselves to have. This went for all ranks of shinobi, not just the elite, for even those at the bottom of the ladder needed a form of escape from the lifestyle for a little while.

For one particular young girl, her escape and rest did not come from lethargically laying about doing nothing all day. No, her form of relaxation came in the form of her solitary moments away from her team and her own private training out in the wilderness. Granted, she liked her team well enough, but the quirks and the enthusiasm of some members made it very tiring and stressful environment to deal with on a consistent basis. When it became too much and she wasn't required to be in the vicinity of them, she typically took those moments to be on her own and train in relative peace. Again, it wasn't out of personal aversion that she did this, she just enjoyed the tranquility of the woods as she trained.

But the closer she came to her preferred training grounds, the more apparent it became that someone else was in the general area. It wasn't just one person either, based on the number of battle cries she could make out in her approach. Normally that would have been something she would have ignored since this area was one of the more commonly used spots to train. But curiosity brewed within her the more she listened, and the longer she did the more apparent it became that each voice was similar to the last. Clearly there was more than one person, but all the voices she heard sounded exactly the same and that by itself was weird in its own right.

Against her better judgment, the young kunoichi decided to sneak a peek into the clearing rather than bypassing it and heading straight into the woods like she intended.

"...what the hell?"

What she ended up finding were at leave five boys, all identical, locked into what she could best describe as a cluster fuck of a sparring session. Each of the boys had a sword, each of them had it sheathed, and each one was trying their hardest to hit the same target with their sheathed weapon at once. Said target was no different from the rest, the only difference being that he was wearing a black shirt with his orange jacket tied around his waist. A means to distinguish him from the rest of the doppelgangers no doubt, but that was an observation that came much later after reflection. As far as here and now went, the girl was more confused than anything else.

But her bewilderment wasn't born from the scene she was currently observing.

"Who taught this kid how to fight?"

Yes, being on a team that was heavily focused in close-quarters combat had made her accustomed to seeing the proper and professional forms of Taijutsu. She might not be as skilled as her teammates in that department, but she could at least tell the difference between an amateur and an expert. So she didn't even need to be in close proximity to see that the boy wasn't just amateurish, he just plain sucked. And although she wasn't prone to degrading others based on their performance, mentally the girl found watching this poor excuse of combat to be an eyesore. She wasn't being figurative either, it literally hurt her eyes just watching this group spar; if it could even be called that.

Their forms, their attack patterns, everything about it looked clunky and stiff without any sort of pattern or rhythm of motion at all. And this wasn't even Taijutsu, as far as she could tell, this was...what the hell _was_ _she_ looking at; Kenjutsu?

"This is depressing to watch..." Indeed it was, considering the utilization of weapons were her forte. To her, whatever this was she looking at, was downright insulting. "Oh whatever, it's not my place to judge or my problem to deal with."

Such was the mindset she wanted to have as she moved out onto the field herself in an effort to get into the wooded area beyond. As stated before, it wasn't her place to judge and it certainly wasn't her place to intervene with the group's training. She had no obligation to do such a thing, after all she didn't know the person, so why bother? But the closer she got to the tree line, the more she was able to witness; the orange clothing certainly had a way of drawing her attention against her own will. Her feet were still moving, she still had the intent of departing, but the dark pools of brown almost refused to leave the backs of that crowd of orange. It even got to the point that she was inadvertently craning her neck just to keep them in her line of sight.

This, unfortunately, didn't go unnoticed.

"Hm? Hey, who's that over there?"

Crap, she lingered too long, one of them noticed her!

"Eh?" _It just got_ _worse!_ Another one in the group had now stopped to look as well! "I dunno, maybe someone who wanted to use the training ground?"

More and more of the blonde's clones had abruptly begun to turn and face the girl who by all accounts was not trying to catch their attention. Sadly she had already stopped like a deer caught in a strobe light. Not once did it strike her as strange that the clones were acting like normal people, her mind too busy trying to think up a way to get out here and avoid this interaction.

Meanwhile the real blonde was currently pushing himself through the group of copies to see for himself who had caused the interruption. What he found was girl with dark brown hair styled into two buns atop her head wearing sleeveless pink blouse and dark green pants. Weird, at least to him, because he never saw the girl until today and he hadn't expected anyone to come around here. But with the way she was standing there looking him and his clones inclined him to believe that she wanted something. What she wanted he had no clue, but he didn't mind the interruption since he could use a break after spending so long out here training like this. With that in mind, the blonde swept the sweat from his brow and propped his sheathed weapon onto his shoulder; raising his other hand in a friendly wave.

"Yo!"

The girl felt her shoulder's twitch at the call and immediately after let out an exasperated sigh. He had already instigated an interaction, so now there was no backing out of the engagement provided she didn't mind being rude and ignoring him. What she didn't know was that option probably would have worked out better for her than humoring him with conversation. Then again she didn't know who he was so she could be forgiven for not knowing that little fun fact.

"H-hello," Returning the greeting with the best friendly visage she could muster, the girl in pink returned the gesture as she slowly inched closer towards the treeline. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your...training a minute there. I'll just get on out of your-"

"Oh that's no biggie, I needed the break anyway, I've been at this for about...was it an hour or was it two, I forget."

Two hours and from what she witnessed he was still piss poor. Whatever powers that ruled over this reality must have really turned this kid a blind eye for him to be this bad. As that thought came and passed, she realized that the blonde had already started jogging over towards her and in that instant it sunk in that she would not be getting out of this now. Yet, even with that awareness, a part of her was already sort-of curious about the sheathed sword that he had on his person. Sure, he had no business swinging it around with how bad he was, but if nothing else she was interested in at least seeing it.

"So, what're you doing out here? Is this...um, your spot or something?"

"No, no, I was just going to head into the woods there to get some target practice."

His gaze followed after her finger as she gestured towards the path in the direction she was going. As he was took to processing this, Tenten took note of a few factors that she didn't notice before. From a distance he only looked to be sweaty, but now that he was close she could see the telltale signs of bruising in several spots along his arms, hands, and even his face. No doubt it was from this supposed training, but that was when it occurred to her that the clones he made were not just illusions, but real clones. They were corporal, which meant he was using a certain element styled clone to make them. If that was indeed the case, then every blow he took was as real as it would be if he had an actual partner. That at least explained why none of the clones had their blade's exposed, less he end up getting injured in the process.

Did the kid not have anyone to train with?

Better yet, did this kid not have someone to properly teach him how to even use a sword?

"Oh, okay, I didn't know if other people used this place or not. I kinda just showed up and started training; I hadn't seen anyone else come through here so..." With a dismissive shrug, he returned his gaze back to the girl as a grin very reminiscent to her teammate's surfaced on his features. "I'm Naruto by the way, future Hokage of Konohagakure and future master swordsmen!"

She almost laughed.

This girl truly and dearly wanted to burst out into a fit of hysterical laughter. Despite her best efforts, the pesky edges of her lips perked upwards in obvious amusement. Hard to blame her after baring witness to the fairly poor level of skill or natural talent that this boy had. Apparently he noticed it too, because his formerly bright expression turned sour as his gaze narrowed and the beginnings of a scowl took form on his own lips.

"What's so funny, huh?"

She couldn't take it.

At a record breaking time of three point five seconds, the girl followed the same pattern as everyone else and started laughing. Not hysterically, she at least had some self control than to do that, but she still laughed even if it was lightly.

"Hey! Don't laugh at me, I mean it!"

"Sorry, but you, a Kenjutsu master?" Her skepticism was pretty obvious, in both her tone and posture, as she stood there with her arms folded and gaze stern. "Please, you'd be better off trying something else more fitting to your skill set. I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Kenjutsu is definitely not something I see you ever being good at."

Harsh, then again most of life's lessons were, at least that was how she justified herself. More often than not people stumble and trip up on the road of becoming a shinobi, just as many don't get back up from those falls either. What she was doing was saving the boy the trouble of wasting his efforts on something he undoubtedly would never be good at. Reality was a bitch, she could be as well, but the world needed people like her to step up and be honest about an issue that nobody wants to address. Obviously nobody told this kid he was bad so, out of respect as well as for his own sake, she would be the bad person here and address the elephant in the clearing.

Unfortunately all her words served to do was fan the flames of irritation that were building up inside the blonde who simply stood there matching her stare. He didn't look away from her, not for a second did his gaze waver. There was defiance in those blue spheres, that much she could clearly see, but that could have very well been because he himself didn't want to admit that she was right. It could have been for large verity of reasons, but he still kept his glare, kept his eyes locked on her own whilst his grip tightened on the hilt of the sword on his shoulder. Was he planning to lash out at her? If so, she would have loved to see him try it and see what she could do to utterly ruin his day.

It had been him who broke eye-contact as he scuffed and turned himself around. For a second, part of her felt smug for being the victor of the little exchange.

"What's wrong with having a goal to shoot for?" That smugness dissipated a bit once he stopped and started speaking. "I'm not very good at it right now—"

"Not very good? More like being downright _terrible_!"

"—okay, fine, I'm bad at it, happy now!? I _just_ got this sword, I _just_ _barely_ passed graduation, and now I'm finally going to be a shinobi in just a few days! So what if I suck with this thing, I know that already, and know I'll get better at it eventually! It's not like I'm gonna just pick it up and master it now am I!? It's a end goal, something I wanna shoot for because I've got nothing else! And I don't care how long it takes or how long I need to spend out here training to do it! I've already made up my mind that this is what I wanna do and that's that!"

Once again the blonde had turned to face her and, odd as it sounded, she saw the spitting image of someone very familiar staring back at her. She had already heard the conviction in his tone as he spoke, now that he was looking at her she could clearly how much he meant those words. Yet there was more in that gaze that was off-putting, something she could easily place, and identify. The reason she could was because she had seen it time and again in the eyes of someone who had a great deal of her respect.

It was a look of someone who wanted to prove the world wrong.

"And I don't care what you say, hell I don't even know you. You don't know me either, so don't you go telling me what I can or can't do."

Just like that, the boy turned back around in a huff as he proceeded back towards the group of clones that lay in wait for him to continue their spar. As for the girl, well, it was clear to see that something in what had said struck a chord in her being. Granted, he had a point, she did have no reason to be so judgmental considering what was just said. Hell she wasn't always as skilled as she was either, but she reached this point because her own dedication and ambitions pushed her to being better. Having a goal to strive for was what made her this way, and not just her but her teammates as well. Without those goals, without that ambition or drive to keep pushing them forward, would she or either of her teammates have become as skilled as they were now? Maybe, maybe not, that was just one of those questions that would go on without an answer.

But as she continued to watch the blonde, she couldn't help but be reminded of the person who shared those same eyes she saw just now. They had the same look, no doubt about it, and the person on the blonde reminded her of turned out to be someone of considerable strength in the two years they had been a team.

Having already pictured the immature guy in her mind, yet another exasperated sigh emerged from her lips as she palmed her face. Frustrating as it was, humiliating as it would be, she knew she had to make this right; otherwise the remnants of her guilty conscious would tear her to pieces.

"H-hey, hold up a second!"

Now it was her turn to do some jogging as she closed the gap between herself and the departing blonde. Said youth abruptly heeded her call and ceased his moments to glance back at her, irritation mixed with traces of confusion on his features as she came to a stop.

"What now, gonna laugh at me some more?"

"No, you were right, I shouldn't have laughed and I shouldn't have said all that." While her tone nor her posture showed it, her expression did bare a hint of guilt and genuine regret for her rude behavior. "I still meant what I said, you _are_ terrible, but at least you recognize that too; so I guess you're not too much of a lost cause."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that if it's really something you want to do, it's not impossible; it'll just take a long time." The sour expression on his face didn't leave, not that she expected it too, but it did lighten up a bit compared to before. "Especially if you go about it like like this, with the way you're training right now. If you want to get anywhere with that sword of yours you need to first understand the proper ways of using it. From what I saw, you looked like you were just swinging it around like a club rather than sword."

"You were watching me?"

"Shut up, I'm trying to help you here!" No, she was not blushing at the insinuation he had made. "Listen, there's more to it than just swinging it around like an idiot. There are a wide verity of different forms and styles in the art of Kenjutsu, finding which style suits you best is probably the hardest part about being a Kenjutsu specialist. Once you find the one you are best at, the rest is mainly just practice through repetition and continued sparring."

"...so, I just gotta find which style works for me?"

"Basically, yeah." Upon seeing the boy's bemused expression the girl finally did what she had intended to do since she called out to him. "If you want, I can help you. I may not be the best with swords, but I'm well versed in them to teach you the basics. At least that way you have something to go on until you can find someone better who can teach you."

Just like that, whatever irritation that remained was blow away by sheer surprise. If she didn't know better, she would have thought that this was the first time that someone had offered to give him any sort of help when it came to training. Sad fact was that this was the first time someone in his age group, or close to it anyway, had in fact offered to give him any sort of help. That being said, surprise gave way to genuine excitement and joy just thinking about it.

"You mean it?" He almost sounded hopeful, as if in disbelief that someone would even bother to extend such an offer. "You'll really help me get better at this?"

"I already said I would, no point in taking it back now if I didn't mean it." She would probably regret it, hell she already did, but it was just as she said. If she didn't mean it she wouldn't have said so, and now she was committed to see it through to the end. "Anyway, since I'm going to be helping you, might as well go ahead and introduce myself; I'm Tenten, and it's nice to meet you."

The girl now identified as Tenten thus extended her hand for the boy to shake. And in this moment, Tenten would soon become accustomed to the cheeky grin on the orange-clad boy's face as he fully turned around to face her. Without missing a beat, the boy's palm lightly smacked against her own, his chuckles at her bewildered face only further spurred her regret towards making this offer.

"Uzumaki Naruto, and the same goes for me Tenten-chan!"

...this was going to take some getting used to...

* * *

The First Steps Forward.

So, last time I did this, I didn't include the conversation between Naruto and Hiruzen and just had him pass it along without much care. This time I wanted to show how that played out as well as showcase that there's more to the sword than what either Naruto or Sarutobi realize. Plus now there's a bit of a better reasoning (as well as mystery) as to why Tessaiga was kept inside the Fuin no Sho.

As for the interaction between Naruto and Tenten, last time that had been rushed and was way too forced. Now there's some depth here, and in this version Tenten's kinda begrudgingly helping him out. Though, for the record, if the short spar snip here was bad it's because I had to intentionally make it that way. And to be brutally honest, writing purposely bad fight sequences is **_really fucking hard_**.

Anyways, I hope I kept most of the characters personalities in character here; still trying to get accustomed to an annoying Naruto. Not gonna do catch-phrases though, I'll at least spare us all from that because fuck that noise.

That being said, feel free to leave a review with whatever comments, questions, or concerns you feel the need to address. And as always, I hope you all enjoyed my little piece of refurbished work and I look forward to seeing you all again next time.

 _Goodbye for now._


	3. Day of Orientation

Greetings to all~

So, it's been I think six days, so its time for an update. Chapter isn't as long as the last, but it's not particularly short either. I'm trying to keep a quota on how many words I wanna put in each chapter. So if I take a while with my updates, then that's the reason why, that or I'm busy with work or Fallout 4 since I'm starting to get really into it. Don't worry, I'm balancing out my playtime and work time accordingly, its just sometimes time goes by much faster than I realize.

But enough of this, I hope you all enjoy the third chapter of Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang!

* * *

 **Inuyasha and Naruto are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Mamashi Kishimoto respectfully; therefore I own nothing.**

* * *

Today was the day.

Today was the eventful day that everyone who had passed the graduation exam would be placed on a team with their peers. To some this day had been a long time coming, to others it felt as though barely a day had passed since the exam. Regardless, today was the day of orientation, of team placements, and the day they would meet the individual who would serve as their new teachers. Understandably a large majority of the students were excited for this moment, and again just as many were nervous; though why wouldn't they be?

This was finally it, they were considered adults now and as of this day each of these youths would be entering a new chapter in their lives. It was an overwhelming experience in both respects to the point that some of among these youths could hardly go to sleep the previous night.

Hence why the academy was so abuzz with activity; as many friends and classmates talked among themselves. This was, after all, the last day they would be spending time in this classroom together before they set out to achieve their own dreams for the future.

But despite all the ruckus, something stuck out pretty well despite all the chatter and noise. What stuck out was the almost foreboding thunder of two individuals charging down the academy corridors like a stampede of wild animals. Anyone who was foolish enough to get in the way of it was promptly knocked away without care or prejudice. Though, admittedly, this was not as uncommon as one would believe and as such most of the students here had the presence of mind to get the hell out of the way as the red and purple blur came barreling down the hallway.

Not always, there was still a slight chance that someone would get careless, but nine times out of ten people heard it coming and hugged the wall accordingly.

Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura, former best friends turned rivals vying for the affections of one particular boy of their class. And, like usual, the two girls who performed this ritual found themselves stuck at the door to their classroom as each tried to squeeze in passed the other. Also like usual, both had succeeded in their efforts to squeeze themselves in before giving a synchronized shout of 'First!' before allowing themselves a moment to catch their respected breaths. It didn't take long for both girl's to start showboating their supposed victory over the other which inevitably led to the two arguing with each other over the technicalities of a few inches.

It was a pretty irrational and petty, but then again the same could be said about how their little feud began in the first place.

"You'd think they'd give it a rest at this point." Was the offhanded comment that one of the students, Inuzuka Kiba, had uttered to the small canine on his head. "Guess some things don't ever change, do they Akamaru?"

Nobody had to be a dog whisperer to know that the white pup's bark was in agreement, mainly because anyone who heard him would have agreed just the same. Then again, it probably would've been strange if they didn't arrive in this manner and showed up like any normal person would. That was just one of the things that the class had gotten used to dealing with over the course of their time here. It was what also made the time spent in this class so enjoyable, although that all depended on who one spoke to in regards to how they felt about the people in the class. At least this was to be the last time they squabbled like this, granted it still didn't prove anything since neither Yamanaka nor Haruno were any step closer than the other in terms of impressing the person they both liked.

As the commotion between the two died and both girls turned away in a huff, Sakura's eyes took to scanning the room for the one person who drew her attention the most. She didn't have to look far or for very long, as she quickly spotted him seated at the far right side of the class next to the window. As soon as she did, however, Ino's eyes followed suit; only to be a step behind as Sakura already began making her way towards the sole surviving Uchiha seating by himself.

"G-good morning Sasuke-kun."

Her greeting, along with the sweat smile she presented, barely even caused the boy to blink; let alone turn his gaze to address her. His expression lacked any form of emotion save for the perpetually flat expression he was known for maintaining. There was no point in getting excited, nor was there a point to being nervous. Uchiha Sasuke had only one thing to look forward to and that was to grow stronger under the personal tutelage of the Jounin. Everything else that came with it was to be ignored, rightfully so considering half of his peers hardly deserved to be considered shinobi in his humble opinion. All of them, every last one of them, thought of this as just one big game.

They didn't realize what it meant to be a shinobi, at least a large majority of them didn't and Sasuke was not apart of the majority. Maybe once upon a time he didn't take it as seriously as he did now, but that time had long since passed. He knew what he was in this for, knew what he was getting himself into, and he was fully prepared to do whatever it took to meet his goals. So long as whoever was with him didn't hold him back, didn't impede on his progress to achieving that goal, then he could care less about these... _children_ did.

Like, for example, the crowd of girls that had started arguing amongst themselves over the right to sit next to him.

Not a single care in his bones, although he did find it to be utterly pathetic sight to behold coming from these kunoichi; if they should even be called that.

To everyone else, however, it wasn't much different than any other day.

...well, almost...

"Hey, I just noticed, Naruto's not here."

Not surprising in the slightest, nobody really gave the orange-clad blonde much care or even bothered to note that he was missing. It wouldn't further surprise anyone if he suddenly burst out from the ceiling in a shower of confetti at that given moment. Some pictured that scenario playing out and some even went as far as looking up. But alas nothing occurred, no obnoxious shouting or boasts of greatness met their ears and not a speck of orange was to be found anywhere. Only Kiba seemed to find the sight of a few students looking around funny, mainly because he knew the guy wasn't around nor was he going to be around.

"Didn't you guys hear? He's the only one of the class who failed the exam." As the feral boy made this statement, a certain girl looked considerably downtrodden whilst others looked towards him in a mixture of disbelief and amusement. "Pretty pathetic if you ask me, but then again I'm not surprised. It's _that_ Naruto we're talking about after all, the same guy who failed twice in a row and still couldn't even create a single clone."

While the girls continued to argue and the boy's began to snicker, the door to the classroom was quickly moved open as another student filed into the classroom. The slow shuffling feet barely made any noise as they moved along the wooden floor, stopping only to take in his surroundings before moving once more in a similar pace. Few hardly paid the new arrival as much as a glance, but those who did were immensely surprised as a result for a verity of reasons.

"Mah well, should've spent more time training and less time pulling pranks and boasting about being Hokage." At this point, the shuffling feet had already descended down to the row which Kiba was sitting; all the while other kids had started to notice his presence while Kiba remained ignorant. "Heh, like that would have ever happened anyway. If he actually became Hokage, I swear I'd eat my own-"

"Kiba, scoot up, need ta pass ya."

"Huh, oh, 'sup Naruto." Purest of reflex was what that was based on, yet it took a couple seconds after he had moved and the boy passed that it registered just whose name he said. "...wait, what the hell!?"

Sure enough, there the boy was, passing through the isle of desks in a slow and wobbly pace while seemingly ignorant of every person looking at him. Kiba could hardly believe it, neither did many others either, but their expressions of surprise were for a very different reason than the one the feral boy believed. For his part, as well as some others, he was more off put by the weapon which was slung across his back. Because...well, let's face it, nobody had ever seen the boy carrying a sword in the past, hell nobody knew he even _had_ such a thing in the first place.

As quickly as that feeling came, it left him as he came to his own assumption regarding the sword on the blonde's back. He would have voiced it, hell it was on the tip of his tongue, had the troublemaker still been near remained that he wasn't, Kiba didn't feel like getting up, and the blonde was apparently making his way towards the desks where the girls had all seemed to have gathered.

The boy in question, for his part, was either unaware of the looks he was getting or he just didn't care.

All he wanted to do was sit down.

With no seats in the back available and unwilling to descend any lower down than need be, Naruto went with the next best thing. Since nobody had yet to claim either of the two seats that made up the conjoined desk, the boy simply bypassed all the ruckus and slid on in while they argued. Oh, he had enough awareness left to know what all the commotion was about; best believe that he was very well aware of that. Given how he didn't hesitate to sit down despite this awareness, it became quite clear now that he didn't care about what was happening around him. Not the looks from his peers, the girls arguing, none of it. It became pretty clear why he didn't care a few short seconds after sitting down, as his head had soon after found itself resting atop his folded arms in a clear case of fatigue.

Sasuke, who barely acknowledged anyone since his arrival, allowed his eyes to drift over towards the blonde. The fact that the orange clad youth didn't instigate any hostility upon his arrival served as enough reason to divert at least some of his attention to the boy. Sadly, Sasuke wasn't the only person who took notice to his classmate, for someone eventually noticed the lack of vacancy in the row of desks and addressed it.

"Naruto, what are you doing, that's my seat!?" Said person was Sakura herself, the person whom the blonde not-so-secretly fancied, and one of the people who disliked the blonde the most. "Why are you even here today Naruto, you failed, so get out!"

Sasuke had managed to hear what Sakura could not, and what he heard was the sound of grumbled complaints as he adjusted himself to try and block out the noise. All this served to do was make the girl angry, enough so to warrant her approach and subsequently grab him by the back of his collar to pull him off the chair. Admittedly, what happened did not go as intended, as she meant to drag him out of the booth. Yet the lack of tension in the boy's body made him too heavy, which thereby caused her to instead pull him backwards and into the floor. The loud thump that followed as his head and back collided with the desk behind him.

Only after this happened did she see the entire front profile of his person, which thereby including the metal plating of his hitai-ate that proved he had passed. Yet doing so had also showcased the current state of his wardrobe being a filthy mess, the smell of sweat thick around his cloths, with several stains of soil, grass and sweat covered most of his front. Sakura probably would have wrinkled her nose in disgust and commented on all of this had she been given the chance to. Since cause and effect was now in play, as every action performed was followed by a reaction, she was not given the chance to voice her repulsion. This was because her action of both disturbing his sleep as well as inflicting harm in his barely conscious state enticed him to react in the most according manner.

To put it simply, Sakura had succeeded in pissing off a barely conscious blonde.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you stupid bas—!" Only after he had reached the point of no return did Naruto realize who he was yelling at. "...oh, mornin' Sakura-chan!"

To be fair, Naruto had a pretty legitimate reason to be angry since he didn't do anything to warrant such a blatant display of disrespect. If he cared enough, Sasuke probably could have come to the boy's defense in that regard. Sadly he did not, nor did anyone else who witnessed it either, and thus the blonde was alone in regards to defending himself. Based on the sound of cracking knuckles, it was pretty clear to everyone what was about to happen next.

"You're dead."

Apparently Sakura doesn't take being called stupid very well.

"W-wait, hold on a sec, what'd I do!?"

In the end, Sasuke mused, today was just going to be a really long day.

* * *

And the Uchiha was correct in that assumption, because the day dragged on far longer than he would have particularly liked.

After subjected to the sight of the blonde idiot getting beat down at Sakura's hands, Iruka had arrived to give out the team arrangements. Tolerant as he was, even he started to grow impatient as the list dragged on until eventually his name was called on the list. The problem that stood was the two names that were called before it, they being Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto. Almost, almost, _almost_ did Sasuke's head drop in a mixture of frustration and dejection when he heard Sakura's joyous outcry. Though he had honestly expected Naruto to perform the same action when Sakura's name was called. Of course, the reason he didn't might have had something to do with the formerly mentioned beat down had rendered him silent. That or he went back to his previous activity prior to being rudely awoken and was back to catching up on his sleep.

Hard to say which, but he would have been inclined to think it was a mixture of both if he cared enough to think about it.

Now with their lunch break over, all that was left to do was wait for their new sensei to arrive; something which had already taken up the better part of two hours. Sakura, still enthused by being on his team, tried on several occasions to strike up a conversation with him. Each attempt, however, ended up the same way with him ignoring her questions in favor of staring at the clock hanging above the blackboard. Outside of that, Naruto it seemed hadn't moved since lunch and was occasionally mumbling some inaudible gibberish as he slept. Irksome, at least to Sakura's belief, but as far as he was concerned at least the blonde wasn't being an annoyance as he typically was.

Speaking of the blonde, Sasuke had more than once spared the sword that was across his back a glance prior to and even after his arrival. Initially he, like many others, hypothesized that the Uzumaki only brought it for the sake of showing off something 'cool' to whoever would listen. He wouldn't put it passed the lad clad in orange to do something like that and boast about skills he couldn't possible have. How or where he got his hands on a sword or was irrelevant, just as much as what inspired him to pull such a ridiculous stunt in first place. Again, that was the initial thought when he saw it, not the conclusion that he came to after he had taken a better look at him.

The poor state of dress already acted as a big indicator that he didn't have it just for show. Among the more subtle things he noted were a few bruises and blemishes on his face as well as his hands, knuckles, and some of digits. This was all that he could gather based on what was exposed, but he could likely deduce that there were more of those minor injuries beneath the jumpsuit as well. Suffice to say Sasuke came to a conclusion based on what he noticed and what most others did not. Naruto had been training prior to arriving to class and based on how he was acting now meant he had been doing so for quite some time.

Admittedly, Sasuke _might_ have been impressed if it wasn't such a wasted effort.

"Geez, where is he?" Sakura's grumbled complaints cut through the relative silence of the vacant classroom. "It's been almost two hours now and everyone else has already left. I can't really think of any reason for our sensei to be this late unless he just forgot."

Just forgot?

The Uchiha would have scuffed at the notion if it wouldn't entice the girl to try and strike up yet another pointless conversation. Jounin made up the most elite shinobi of the village had to offer, individuals of great talent and equally great amount of experience. To be a Jounin required a substantial amount of dedication and commitment as well as varying other skills just to achieve. For someone of such a level of strength and skill to simply 'forget' that they were to be instructing a Genin team would be a poor testament to their own skills. Should that actually be the case then it was unlikely that the person teaching them had anything worth teaching to begin with; therefore being a waste of his time. He had a ambition to achieve, a goal he had long since set his mind to, and as such was not going to sit by and rot away with these idiots if his teacher was not up to snuff.

All he needed was to grow stronger, faster, better, than what he was now.

He didn't need some useless sensei and he sure as hell didn't need worthless team—

"Gaaaaah! I was only joking, don't use that! Please, I'm begging you, anything but the bees!"

Preposterous the thought would be to think that Uchiha Sasuke, out of sheer surprise, jumped a few inches off of his seat at the abrupt screaming of Naruto's person. Surely someone would be lying to think that he, of all people, would do such a thing despite how common that sort of reaction would be in that moment. Sakura was more than likely to jump out of that sort of thing, in fact she did so and she was standing up, but not him. No, never, he would never admit it to anyone that Naruto's sudden bout of shouting had succeeded in startling him.

Naruto, barely awake, stared at the space in front of him with dazed look on his features, produced a loud yawn, before the lids of his eyes drooped back down.

"jus' a dream."

Two sets of eyes burned holes into his thick blonde covered skull as he put his head back down to sleep.

"You...stupid...idi—"

The Uzumaki was fortunate enough to avoid the wrath of his new female teammate by the sound of the door to the classroom sliding open. Two sets of eyes suddenly found a new individual to focus on, that being the form of a tall silver haired figure in a face-mask and the standard attire most Jounin were prone to wear. Aside from the hair, the only noteworthy trait that stuck out in terms of appearance was the slightly angled hitai-ate which was worn in a sloppy fashion over his left eye. The man, who had hardly stepped into the classroom, gave both children looking at him a fleeting look before shifting his head slightly to take in the blonde sleeping at the desk.

If the Uchiha had to guess, he would say that the man was just as confused about the abrupt shout as they were, hence why he was checking in here.

"Hmm, this is already gearing up to be interesting." His guess that this person was just a random passerby went out the window when the man's exposed eye shifted from each of them; stepping further into the room in the process but keeping himself close to the doorframe. "Looks like I kept you all waiting longer than I thought, sorry about that. I was only recently reminded that I was supposed to be meeting with you guys."

Two faces suddenly went deadpan as they one stared and the other glared. Unsurprisingly, the same thought entered both party's minds at the same time. This man, a Jounin and their supposed sensei, had actually forgotten the fact that he was supposed to be meeting his team. Also, unsurprisingly, Sasuke couldn't help but question if this man was actually a Jounin, as he certainly didn't look the part. The only person who wasn't being so judgmental was Naruto, still mumbling in his sleep as bit a bit of drool trailed down his parted lips. He was busy in the land of giant bowls of ramen, sporting a certain old man's hat, and in the middle of a sword fight atop a giant pair of chopsticks.

It was actually a pretty epic dream.

* * *

One could conclude that, of all the things that could have occurred today, there was many unexpected variables which Sakura didn't take into consideration.

A prime example of this was the unexpected outcome of the team selection and being on the same team as Sasuke, a pleasant surprise yes but unexpected still. That factor had done a considerable job at brightening up her day by a huge amount, easily overshadowing the disappointment and irritation of her other teammate. Having said that, everything that followed since that announcement had either been a bonus or a consequence depending on what transpired.

At least that was what she wanted to view things as the day progressed; but so far things had already gone in a different direction from what she had hoped for. Sasuke had disappeared during the lunch session, robbing her of any chance to try and get to know him better, and even after everyone had left she still couldn't get him to respond with any conversation she tried to start.

Yet another unexpected variable in the mass assortment of gears that made up the clockwork of life. Although it was possible that he was still in the process of adjusting to the permanent team arrangements. Perhaps, with time, he would start talking to her once he got accustomed to being on the same team as her. If that was to be the case then all she had to do was be patient and wait for him to start opening up and things would progress from there.

Then their sensei showed up, a full two hours late, only to tell them he had forgotten about them and giving a half-assed apology for their troubles. Sakura, for her part, wanted to scream at the man for his tardiness and make him give them a proper apology; preferably while on the floor in a seiza position. But she kept her temper in check, not wanting to embarrass herself in front of the Uchiha prodigy for her angry outburst. Even if she had done such a thing there was no guarantee that the male would comply anyway, he _was_ a Jounin after all, so some little girl telling him to apologize wouldn't likely get much out of him except maybe a laugh or two.

When he suggested that they all head to the roof to talk, she had been the one who was obligated to wake the third member of their team.

Uzumaki Naruto, the bane of her life and the consistent annoyance that she barely acknowledged as being part of her and Sasuke's team.

Yet another variable in the workings of life it seemed. How he had passed and why he had a sword of all things was beyond her. She didn't care, he was just a useless bratty kid in her mind and would forever remain that way. Nobody liked him, he constantly annoyed her with his attempts to impress her, and he was almost always butting heads with the very boy she fancied. So yes, she had many reasons not to like him or acknowledge his presence here on the team since all he would be doing from this point was drag her and Sasuke down.

In a way, she regretted not asking Iruka why Naruto was even selected to be on team seven to begin with; as that would have shed some light as to why he couldn't be on someone like Ino's team.

But those thoughts, along with many others, were put on hold as she took her seat between the two boys that made up her team. To her right was Naruto, still in a daze and now nursing the bump on his head while using his sword as a crutch to keep his upper body from falling forward. Sasuke, to her left, remained in mostly the same position as he had been in the classroom; his elbows propped on his knees while his hands remained folded in front of his face. For a moment Sakura felt a bit uncomfortable with being the only member of the team who was even remotely energetic about this whole experience. Only for a moment though, as their sensei took to settling himself on the railing, putting himself right in front of all of them as he cleared his throat.

"So now that we're all here...at least mostly...let's go ahead and cut to the introductions, shall we? "

"Whaddya mean?" The typical Naruto asking dumb questions as he switched from rubbing the knot on his head to rubbing one of his eyes. "Whaddya want us to say?"

"Hmm, the typical things like who you are, what you like, what you dislike, hobbies, future goals; things of that nature."

"Um, sensei, would you mind going first?" Hey, she was curious, and between the four of them this man was the biggest unknown of the group. "Just so we can see how it's done."

"Alright, that sounds like a reasonable request." In spite of how easily agreeing to the idea, the man's posture didn't change in the slightest as he continued to gaze at the three of them with mild indifference. "My name is Hatake Kakashi, nice to meet you all by the way. Like any person I have a great deal of things I like and dislike with more than a few hobbies here and there. As far as goals go...hmm."

Two sets of eyes went deadpan once it was established that the only thing they discovered about their sensei was his name. The third party didn't really give a damn about the man or anything that he chose to share, thus excluding himself from the group-wide blank-face-fest. Seemed the man didn't much care either, because he didn't seem to waste a second in point at the blonde who was just now starting to become fully aware after suffering from two rude awakenings.

"Why don't you take the lead sleepyhead, better this way since it'd be rude of you fall asleep again during the other's introduction."

Said sleepyhead let out one last yawn before giving the man across from him a familiar cheeky grin in responce. Now that he seemed more-or-less awake enough to start talking, Sakura rolled her eyes as she awaited the enevitable boast that was sure to crop up somewhere down the line.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto, I like the cool jutsu I keep hearing about just as much as I like ramen; especially Ichiraku ramen, I swear they've got the best ramen in the whole village. My favorite pastime is trying out whatever new flavors and things that Ichiraku comes up with when I have the money and cool action movies on TV. My dream, the goal I wanna make happen someday, is to be the greatest Hokage the village has ever seen; better than every one that came before so everyone will start seeing me as someone important...oh and, uh, something else too. I also wanna grow to be a master in Kenjutsu since I figure that would also sorta help in making me a Hokage."

After spending a prolonged amount of time in the idiot's presence, Sakura grown accustomed to blocking out most of what Naruto often boasted about. Empty boasts were just annoying, repeating said empty boasts was infinitely more so. So she learned to tune most of it out, as did everyone else, though the last portion succeeded in making her inwardly scuff. Him being Hokage was already laughable, being a master swordsman as well almost made her want to just flat out tell him to stop talking and just accept that he's worthless. Key word here being almost, for as much as he annoyed her there was only so much she could say before crossing the line between being harsh to being downright heartless.

If he pissed her off enough, maybe she would cross that line, but as far as things went so far he hadn't done anything to entice her to breach that boundary.

"Some pretty high-hopes you've got there." Of course Kakashi was just humoring the boy, why else would he say that if he didn't already know how poorly skilled Naruto actually was; it being no secret that the blonde was terrible. "Any dislikes?"

"Oh, right, the couple minutes I gotta wait for ramen to be cooked." Forthright and simplistic, yet something else must have crossed his mind shortly after as his expression abruptly shifted into something akin to terror. "...do fears count as dislikes? Cause, if they do, then I can definitely say I also dislike a certain bun-haired demon I know about."

...three people, including Sasuke, tried to envision that last little outburst and promptly gave up when they couldn't. Collectively, each person present just chalked it up to some nightmare the blonde had in his sleep.

"O—kay...um, for the sake of argument, I'll just agree with you and say that's something worth disliking."

Well, at least neither she nor Sasuke were alone in thinking that last bit was more than a little weird. Strange as it was, it didn't linger on her mind long as Kakashi's revealed eye passed onto her; his hand gesturing her to carry out her turn.

"Oh, um, I'm Haruno Sakura, I-I like...um, never mind, my hobbies are...well usual things with friends and family, and my goal is." Tentatively, her emerald eyes not-so-subtly shifted towards the boy to her left, before foregoing the question. She couldn't have kept a straight face even if she tried, nor could she contain the less than subtle squeal the came as she envisioned said goal in her mind. Had she looked up, she probably would have seen man's gaze become increasingly flatter as he witnessed this. But she didn't, though she did remember the last bit and thus killed whatever giddy mood her thoughts had enticed. "And I dislike Naruto...very much."

"Huh!? C'mon, seriously, what'd I do!?"

It's what he didn't do that make her dislike him, and that was shutting up and stop pestering her. She didn't comment on that though, instead shifting her gaze to her left as it was now Sasuke's turn to do his introduction. From the edge of her vision, she could barely see Naruto himself had also turned to look at the brooding boy, leaning both himself and the sword he was using as a crutch forward to peer passed her. Effectively everyone now had eyes on the Uchiha survivor, even their sensei who oddly didn't seem as enthused about him as she would have expected.

Even with everyone's eyes on him, however, Sasuke's visage remained as composed as it always was, hands still folded in front of him as he stared outwards, looking at nothing or anyone.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I don't particularly like anything and there are a great deal of things that I dislike. I don't consider training a hobby, since it doesn't fit the definition, but that is what I spend a majority of my free time doing. As far as goals go, there are only two in particular that matter to me the most. Rebuilding my clan is more or less a secondary objective, whereas my primary goal in life is to eventually kill a certain person."

By the maker, Sasuke was cool!

As it was to be expected coming from the boy who held the title of being the Rookie of the Year of the whole graduating class. Every single word was captivating, so gripping, due to the utter seriousness of his tone. Though he had been very forthright with his goals and hobbies, it was a shame that he didn't seem too inclined to share what he liked or disliked. No matter, she was sure he would open up to her eventually once they got better acquainted as a team. Even if they both had to deal with the blonde nuisance as a teammate, she was sure the two of them could still pull through just fine with or without him.

Who knows, blonde idiot's inadequacy might prove to be beneficial in developing a stronger bond with the Uchiha since the two of them would be carrying most of the weight on the team. Her train of thought was brought to a halt when upon hearing the sound of her new sensei's feet clapping against the concrete of the roof.

"Good, good, now that the introductions are done, it's about time we get started."

"With wha—oh! Are you taking about our first mission!?" Yup, if it wasn't clear before it was now, Naruto was fully awake. "What'll we be doing first? Are we gonna go out and help some noble, or is it gonna be something like sneaking into some mansion to get a scroll? Or is it—"

"Survival training."

He had to be smiling, of course he was smiling, the only exposed eye wouldn't look like that if he wasn't underneath that mask of his.

"...survival training?"

"Survival training."

"Um...sensei, we've already done survival training in the academy." Admitted Sakura as it was true, the class had undergone this sort of thing during the semester. "Besides, you just said it was a mission, not training."

"Oh, but it is a mission; not my mission of course, more like a mission for you three." His tone, the curve of his eye, his posture, everything he said and did clearly showed amusement. Was he not taking his duty as a sensei seriously or was he just messing with them and this was just a quirk of his? Sakura soon got her answer when, in the same tone and expression, elaborated. "The reason I'm calling it a mission is because your performance will determine if you become Genin or not. Perform poorly and you are sent back to the academy, perform well and you go on into your career as a Genin of Konoha."

"Hey! That's not a mission, that's more like another stupid test!"

"Hmm yes, actually, you're right Uzumaki; it is more of a test than it is a mission now isn't it?"

"Then what the hell was the point of the final exam if we're just gonna get stuck with another damn test!?"

Externally Sakura simply nodded in accordance with the question. Internally, however, the pink haired youth was screaming in outrage just the same as her blonde teammate. Why the hell were they being forced into yet another trial just to become a Genin!? Why hadn't anyone ever mentioned that there was going to be something beyond the exam they already took nearly a week ago!? That was so shady!

"The exam which you all took was meant to determine who had the potential to be Genin, not those who would actually become Genin. That's where this test comes in, to weed out who will and those won't; the latter of which will, as I said before, be sent back to the academy. If they truly wish to become shinobi, they can repeat the course again and try again next year. It's not like their careers are over, provided they choose to repeat the curriculum, rather it's more like...a momentary setback. But don't worry, though this test will be much harder than the previous one, the odds of the three of you passing aren't so hopeless."

"What are our odds sensei?"

"More like sixty-six." The response to her question actually elicited a sigh as her relief became pronounced; not just her but Naruto as well it seemed. Kakashi, however, was still...smiling, she guessed, as the next words left his masked lips. "It's sixty-six percent likely that you three will fail this test, with a thirty-three percent chance of passing. Those are your odds, no pressure right?"

"You're a bastard!" If Naruto hadn't lashed out when he did, Sakura was sure as shit going to based on how internally pissed off she was. "You're an evil, heartless, and cruel bastard for doing that to us!"

"Oh, it wounds me to hear you say that." No it didn't! If anything the string of insults only made him look _bored!_ "Just for that, if you fail, I'll be taking sword from you and make sure you never see it again."

"Geh, w-wait, you can't do that!"

"I sure can, my test, my rules, that's what's at stake here...oh, ahem, besides you being a Genin of course." Sakura honestly couldn't determine what was pissing her off more about this man. The fact that was explaining all of this so calmly and was clearly amused by it or the fact that he was leading them on by the nose the entire time and enjoying their distress. Either way, she concluded that Naruto was right for once; this guy was a bastard. "Don't worry, we won't be doing this test today, if nothing else you get a day's worth of prep-time before you'll take it. The test itself will take place at the third training ground at nine am. so don't be late, I'll immediately fail all three of you if one of you isn't there when I arrive."

Whether it was the condition of being late or the man in general was hard to say, but three sets of eyes were currently glaring daggers at the man as he moved to leave. She could tell the two boys were seething as much as she was, though Sasuke was less open about it than Naruto was. The only inclination of anger in the former was the glare, while the latter was openly gripping his sword tightly while grinding his teeth as he watched the man go. Between the two, however, Sakura had to say Naruto had more of a reason to be angry here for two reasons. One he had ran the risk of his personal possession being taken from him and two...well, he had finally passed.

To pass the academy's exam only to fail this one and go back to repeating another year would have been an upsetting though for anyone. For him, it would mark his third failure and consequently his fourth repeat of the academy.

She might not like him, hell she could go as far as saying she hated him, but even she had to admit that his anger was quite justified. Not as much as Sasuke's of course, he was the best Genin of their class, but the blonde was a very close second.

"Oh, and one last thing." Seemed Kakashi had forgotten to mention something, just great. Having turned to address them, a sense of dread overcame her when she noted the evident seriousness he had in that one exposed eye as he gazed at all of them. "I recommend you don't eat breakfast tomorrow otherwise...you're gonna to have a bad time."

With the ominous message provided, the man continued on his way leaving three shocked and concerned youths in his wake.

* * *

"Ten-cha— guh!"

Whatever air that was in the blonde's lungs was immediately knocked out of him by the relentless force of Tenten's foot as it connected with his abdomen. He hadn't even been in the training area for two minutes and he was already put on his ass by an older and taller female. A more experienced, better conditioned, and overall an actual Genin of Konoha sure, but still by a girl only a year older than him who kept calling him a kid for some reason. Said girl, however, looked like a demon to him based on the way she loomed over him like a dark shadow with her eyes glowing, teeth bared, and fumes of steam occasionally rising out of her nose and mouth.

" _ **Quit calling me that.**_ "

The bun-haired demon was real indeed.

Naruto was man—well technically just a boy still—but even the most battle hardened males would probably crumple up at this particular sight. That was his belief at least, the girl's temperament was akin to Sakura's when she was angry; only _much_ fiercer and scarier. Hence why the Uzumaki quickly reevaluated his words while quickly going into a seiza position in the dirt; bowing until his forehead was kissing the gravel.

"Sorry, sorry, I forgot Tenten-san!"

"That's better, quit forgetting and maybe greetings like these won't happen as much." As though his actions had been an exorcism, the dark foreboding beast that once existed was replaced with the familiar brunette who appeared to be quite smug with herself from where she stood. Though the orange clad boy couldn't wrap his mind around why that particular honorific made her so angry, he had long since quit asking about it. "So, how'd the orientation go?"

"It was crap, this whole day has been nothing but crap to me! I got hit twice while I was sleeping, paired up with that bastard Sasuke, got a sensei who turned out to be a bigger bastard than him, and we've gotta take _another_ _test_ or we'll be sent back to the academy!" Frustration abundant, the boy proceeded to take a few breaths in an effort to calm himself down, shifting himself to sit cross legged on the ground as he did so. "Our training this morning didn't help much either, I didn't even have time to eat breakfast today or get a shower, or even find a change of clothes."

"Yeah, well, you insisted on training and I wasn't going to stop you." Retorted the lass, leaning herself against the trunk of a tree whilst twirling a kunai with her index finger. "You only have yourself to blame since I did say we should stop ahead of time. Part of training is knowing how to pace yourself to prevent overexertion. Poor performance based on a lack of proper rest will only hinder you in the long run opposed to just stopping and taking a break for awhile."

That little explanation had been practically engraved into her bones thanks to the teachings of her own sensei. Hard work was still essential, but the term itself didn't imply continuously punching a bag for hours on end until your wrist broke. That was the major difference between someone working hard and someone who was too stupid to stop when they needed to. Not to say that the student her sensei favored most was stupid or anything, but sometimes he went just a little too far with his training for her tastes. In a way, from what she experienced in the past few days, the goofy grinning blonde in the dirt was much like Lee was in regards to his willingness to train and the amount of time he could spend doing it.

Maybe one of these days she should introduce him to the bowl-cut teammate of hers, hell the two would probably get along great considering how much the two had in common with each other.

Something to think about.

"Well, yeah, but I wanted to get as much training as I could since Jiji gave me the sword." Sheepish as usual when called out like this, the boy just scratched at his scalp as his expression became more pensive. "I still don't know what that condition he mentioned was, but it's not like it matters since that bastard Kakashi is gonna take my sword anyway if I don't pass."

Now _that_ got her interested, so much so that she stopped twirling the kunai to stare at the boy in mild disbelief. Kakashi, as in Hatake Kakashi, was going to be his sensei? Oh she knew who that man was, hard not to when the man was her own sensei's self-proclaimed rival. She also knew from various stories Gai had told of him that he was probably one of the best shinobi in the village at the moment, and that was a _bold_ statement coming from him. She was also aware of the man's track record for failing every Genin team he was charged with giving this test to.

But that wasn't the only part of the boy's statement that got to her, it was the additional comment regarding the sword and how the man would be taking it in the event that he failed. Which, given the number of students who partook in his test, meant the orange clad youth's chance for success was practically zilch.

All this time, all this training, all of it had just been a huge waste of her time all along.

"Bah, screw him, I'm not gonna fail this test!" While the Uzumaki might have been optimistic about all this, Tenten clearly was not if the dark aura around her person was to be of any indication. "I mean, I've already gotten this far, so it's all uphill from here on out! Thirty-three percent likely to pass my ass, I just gotta train some more to boost that up by...um, six, seven...yeah seven! Seven is all I need, forty to sixty aren't too bad of odds, beats the hell out of a stupid thirty-three to sixty-six chance."

"Naruto..."

The exasperation in her tone was clear, clear enough to make the blonde's attention rest on her upon the end of his ramblings.

"...look, I'm not gonna say you're definitely gonna fail or anything but...chances are you still might." She didn't like the way his narrowed at her, she really didn't, but as far as she could tell she wasn't trying to sound disbelieving or condescending. Tenten was just speaking honestly, though her doubt was predominantly present in her voice and expression. She didn't believe he could pass not because of his own abilities, though they were still poor, but rather because of the person who was issuing the test. If he believed otherwise, if he thought she was doubting him personally, then she would elaborate on that later. "If, I repeat _if_ , that happens don't let it discourage you but so much okay? I know you don't want to go back to the academy or lose your sword either but don't—"

"It's not me I'm worried about, I don't care if I go back." Wait, huh!? The flat stare he was giving her showed that he wasn't joking, but that wasn't true. She knew how hyped he was about being a Genin, she had seen how happy he was to just finally pass his exam, so why was he suddenly saying he didn't care if he went back all of a sudden? "I mean, yeah, it'll suck and I'll hate every second of it, but I've failed three times already. Fourth time won't kill me and all that'll mean is I have more time to train and get better on my own. Heh, pretty sure I won't fail _Bunshin no Jutsu_ ever again with what I've got."

"...okay, I don't believe you, but whatever. What _are_ you worried about then?"

"Easy: it wouldn't be fair to Sakura-chan if she went back since she was the smartest person I know." What he failed to recognize was that Sasuke was also the best student of their class and that it would be just as unfair for him to go back either. But that little detail was promptly excluded since the guy was a righteous prick who could use getting knocked down a few pegs. "The sword too, but it's not as important to me as Sakura-chan is. Besides, even without it, I'm sure I'd manage somehow; especially with you around to help me out like you've been doing."

"What gives you the impression that I'd help you train if you failed?" This time she was being condescending because of how carelessly he assumed she would do such a thing. "I told you, I'm only helping you understand the basics of Kenjutsu until you get a proper teacher to train you. If you fail, you're on your own since I'm an actual Genin and you'll be back to being an academy kid for the fourth year in a row."

"Well that's just another reason why I've gotta pass then!" Retorted the lad without missing a beat, ignorant of how his words confused her before speaking further. "You're cool, I like training with you, and I'd like to keep training with you for as long as I can. Heck, you're probably the nicest girl I've met since your the first person who ever offered to help me get stronger."

...okay, being honest, Uzumaki had scored some points here by saying that. She wasn't the most difficult person to get along with, but she was far from the 'coolest' of her team, nor was she the nicest. Had Naruto not seemed so genuine with his statement, she probably would have thought he was trying to butter her up or something along those lines. But he was serious, he meant what he was saying, which was both flattering and a bit depressing once everything fully registered. Tenten had been the first person to give the kid a helping hand, to help push him in the right direction, and that was just disappointing.

It already occurred to her that he didn't have many friends, he hardly talked about anyone he was close with except for maybe a man named Iruka and the Hokage. How he had a close relationship with the Hokage of all people was beyond her, but she never really bothered to ask him. Yet among his age group, he spoke of nobody in particular who he hung out with or was close with; though again she didn't openly ask about in during their sessions these past few days.

Now she had confirmation, now she had an idea of why that was, and that was because he didn't have any friends like that. Depressing stuff, sure, but he didn't seem to mind all that much. In a way, if she had to guess, the two training together like this was probably the closest interaction he had with someone close to his age. So, in a way, her helping him train was like hanging out with a friend...and if that was to be true then part of her almost felt bad for him.

He was really desperate.

"W-well then, that's...nice to hear." What else could she say, it wasn't like she could just brush him off at this point. Casting away the more depressing thoughts with a sigh, she flipped the kunai one last time before returning it to the holster on his thigh. "In that case, let's go ahead and get to it. We're wasting daylight and your reaction time needs some more work so we'll be going back to sparring after you go through those katas I showed you again."

Her expression didn't change at all when she heard the dejected groan from the blonde upon mentioning the kenjutsu forms. He'd do them, he always did, or at least he always would if she gave him the proper motivation to do so; he was lucky her aim was so perfect. A push off the tree and a wide stretch with her arms soon followed as stepped forward towards the center of the training ground where they usually did these sessions. She could already hear Naruto getting up off the ground and following after her, and despite his initial complaints he wasn't stalling as he moved to catch up with her.

For her part, well, Tenten would be lying if she said the corners of her lips didn't shift upward the closer they got to the center of the field. Hey, just because she begrudgingly agreed to this didn't mean she wouldn't eventually start to enjoy it.

Naruto did make for a more lively training dummy if nothing else.

* * *

We meet again.

Okay, alright, bring it, c'mon I'm ready for it. Somebody somewhere's gonna get butthurt over the pacing at this point since I'm not jumping into the Genin test. I know it, you lurkers who are thinking that can come out and say it. However, I do want to say that there are reasons for this outside of what are obvious; the reaction of Naruto's peers with him having a sword and all that.

This chapter was mainly to showcase how the monologs are gonna play out between characters as scenes change and such. Notice how it went from general, to Sasuke, to Sakura, to Tenten? Well, if you missed that there you go. I wanted to try this out and see if this is okay with everyone so I don't confuse people with who's mindset the mono logs belong to and whatnot. I'm not gonna be doing the single quotations for thoughts since that never looked good in my eyes, this method just looks and suits me better in my opinion.

Outside of this, bypassing this particular moment wasn't in my agenda and I apologize to those who feel this was wasted. But if my poor excuse of humor here earned a chuckle then at least it wasn't a worthless chapter. Oh, and lastly, if I made Sakura or Sasuke seem OOC I apologize. If I made them spot on, then woot. This is not gonna be a bashing fic, that's one thing about the original that I liked was that I didn't excessively bash any of the characters. So if that's what any of you are expecting then disgard it cause that's not gonna happen here.

That being said, feel free to leave a review with whatever comments, questions, or concerns you feel the need to address. And as always, I hope you all enjoyed my little piece of refurbished work and I look forward to seeing you all again next time.

 _Goodbye for now._


	4. Rite of Ownership

Greetings to all!

Okay, before we get started two things real quick. One, I apologize for my absence and that it took nearly a year to come back and write this. But come on guys, you know what sorta games are out right now? That and some personal matters came up and threw me into a bit of depression. It's resolved now and my urge to write kicked back in during my dry spell; so there's that.

The second thing is more of a positive thing; since I made you guys wait so long I figured I'd give you all a long chapter to hopefully tie you over. Whether you like that sorta thing or not is up in the air, dunno how most you folk will feel about that. But I'm here now, the chapter's out, and things may finally start rolling into the more interesting side of things. I may not have been writing many chapters, but I have been working on arcs so there's a silver lining there.

Anyways, enough from me, enjoy the latest chapter of Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang!

* * *

 **Inuyasha and Naruto are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Mamashi Kishimoto respectfully; therefore I own nothing.**

* * *

In every nation, every region of the world that produced and trained shinobi, there was one constant that was necessary for everyone who aspired to be part of this military force.

That constant was called consent.

While requirements differed from region to region, one would find that the more common among them was parental consent. The life of a shinobi was not for the faint of heart, this _was_ the military, and at any point one's life could end just from being on the wrong side of a kunai. If a child wanted to be a shinobi, if that was truly what they wanted, then it was up to the a parent or guardian to give the official confirmation before they could even be placed in the academy.

Whether they passed or failed depended on the commitment of the child in question, but the decision to have a chance at potentially joining the ranks of any village was ultimately up to the adults. Sure, every village was different in some respects, some being more obvious than others, but most if not all the major villages did share this particular requirement.

Not always, there was the occasional exception or two, but most of the time this requirement was necessary.

Sakura knew this because she had to do the same thing as everyone else she knew of. Having Ino as a friend when she was younger spurred her on this path, it was what brought her here and drove her to someday be as strong as the girl she looked up to. She may not have fully recognized what sort of life she was getting into then, but as time passed she grew increasingly more aware. Although she may have had her doubts here and there, Ino had always been around to pick her up before the unease overtook her.

That was the sort of friendship the two shared, it was what initially kept her going where she otherwise would have stumbled, thus would have been the end of her ambition to grow into the person she was today. Sadly things changed, her confidence grew, her desire to be independent become more distinct, and with her sights set on acquiring the affections of the sole remaining Uchiha their friendship had been overturned into rivalry.

There were regrets, times where she missed having her best friend by her side, but it wasn't something that could be helped. The day the two had graduated marked the end of days where the Haruno stood in the shadow of her former friend and carried on down her own path in life.

But with all that being said, nothing could have truly prepared her for the task in which they were supposed to carry out for their official graduation test that was to follow.

Having been told meet up with their Jounin sensei early in the morning and due to her nervousness she took her sensei's advice in not eating breakfast; putting her in rather horrid state. It didn't help that she didn't eat dinner the previous evening due to her diet which only put her in an ever worse state than she otherwise would have been around this time. Furthermore her supposed 'sensei' had the audacity to be a whole two hours late on top of all that and you have someone who was on the verge of a breakdown. She was starving, tired, and overall unprepared for the test which the man had chosen to give them.

"Retrieve a bell within the hour...uh." Moaned the girl quietly from her hiding spot, her current expression matching the grim thoughts that spawned just from repeating what they had all been told. "To make it worse, if I don't, he eats lunch in front of me and the rest of us."

Sure, he made it sound _sooooo_ easy to do, when in reality it was perhaps the most impossible task for any Genin due to the substantial gap in skill and experience that stood been them and a Jounin. She knew, hell they all knew, that Jounin were among the best of the best, the finest shinobi within the ranks. They were folk who had spent the majority of their lives in service to the village and had climbed up the chain from the bottom of the ranks. People who accumulated many years worth of experience, mastered the art of their profession, and could kill all three of them in the blink of an eye if they felt inclined to do so.

To take a bell from an active Jounin who is obviously going to resist and oppose them was like plucking chestnuts out of an open flame without getting burned.

With time perhaps it would be possible, but they didn't have that degree of skill at this stage in their lives.

Sakura wasn't delusional about her chances of success here being minimal at best. If she had to be completely honest, the person who stood the best chance at getting a bell among them was Sasuke, with their remaining teammate having the poorest chances of accomplishing the task.

Speaking of the two, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of either of them since the test had initially begun. How long ago that was she couldn't really determine, but the bell hadn't sounded off yet so they still had time to secure their objective. Still, it was strange that she hadn't seen either of them since then, neither had tried to approach the Jounin either since she had been observing him from a safe distance.

Not that he was doing anything, he would either be standing around or strolling about the area while remaining in plain sight. Then again it would be hard to feel intimidated or exercise excessive caution with a bunch of kids fresh from the academy. No, he was waiting for someone to make a move, keeping himself in the open with the intent to react that moment he gained awareness of their position.

Just thinking about it like that almost made Sakura feel insulted with how careless the man was treating the three of them; even if he was justified in doing so.

Putting that aside, Sakura did at least have a grasp of the situation at hand and made the correct assumption as to what the older male's plan was. If someone didn't engage him, then he would simply wait until someone did or time ran out. In either case she lost, she couldn't possibly retrieve a bell from him in a one-on-one confrontation, at least not without a plan. Going in blindly was obviously the worst option so she had to come up with a alternative approach, a diversion or trap that would draw his attention away from his surroundings if even for a few seconds.

In theory that would suffice, but in reality she knew she lacked the degree of speed necessary to make the most out of that brief window of opportunity. Immediately her thoughts turned to Sasuke who, by all accounts, did have the level of speed needed to make that tactic work. As far as the distraction was concerned, well, it all went back to her previous thought regarding the third member of her otherwise competent team composition.

"Now that I think about it, where is that idiot?"

True that she didn't precisely know where Sasuke was either, she had expected the blonde to be easier to find by this point. Usually he would have lost his patience and ditched the stealth approach in favor of a more direct one. Preposterous as it sounded, it was possible that Naruto had come to realize the severity of this test and how important it was to both him and the rest. Maybe he wasn't going to do something stupid and maybe even surprise them by using some common sense, to think before he acted, and take on a more tactical approa-

"Oh screw this, hey, jerk ass!"

Annnd with that the palm of Sakura's hand met with the side of her face with a light slap.

"...idiot..."

Yup, she had been giving him too much credit.

* * *

"...you're not all too bright...are you?"

Such was the response Naruto received shortly after making his presence known to just about every living thing within the immediate area. It was quite hard not to notice him with such a boisterous attitude, but that likely stemmed from the degree of social isolation over the course of his life. Not that the boy was even remotely thinking about these things as the only thing swimming through his brain was the objective at hand; or in this case dangling from the side of the older male's waistband. At least he wasn't single-minded enough to miss the jab at his intellect to which he responded by outstretching hand in a particularly rude gesture.

"Like I give a damn what you think! You can go stand in a corn field or something after I get one of those stupid bells from you!"

"If you did succeed in getting one in this setting, I probably would and reflect on how far I've fallen as a Jounin." It was the response that Naruto didn't have the privilege to hear due in part to the distance between the two. The exasperated exhale, however, was well within the boy's capacity to pick up considering how loud it had been. "Fine, fine, come at me whenever you're ready."

Now as intellectually lacking as the orange clad youth was, he wasn't a complete idiot...as in not one hundred percent. He knew when he was being underestimated and that, as of this moment, his supposed sensei was not taking him serious in any way. The Uzumaki knew that, oh boy did he know that, but in this situation at least he understood why. This was a Jounin, a dull and stupid looking one, but all the while still being a Jounin. He was also aware enough to know that he didn't stand a snowball's chance in Suna of beating the man in a straight up fight like this. These were just things he was already well aware of, but if it was getting a bell that was a completely different story.

So, ignoring the nervous sweat on his palms, Naruto wasted little to no time in answering the man's call as he raced to close the gap that stood between them. His hands were far from idle during this charge as his right moved to grasp the hilt of the sheathed blade that had been preemptively removed from his back and was now held firmly in his left hand. All the while the boy continued to keep his eyes trained on the man who, in every since of the word, looked completely unenthused by his approach. Such was how it remained up until the gap between the two grew to be less than fifteen feet apart, which was around the time Hatake calmly stuffed his hand into his equipment pouch.

But the difference here was that Naruto was prepared to deal with projectiles, at least to some degree or another. So long as his sword wasn't out yet, evasion was not a difficult concept for him at this distance. Such was a handy little perk to having a skilled marksman as a training partner; terrifying as said marksman could be at times. This was the sort of mindset that remained constant throughout his change, the multiple days of practice and repetition flashing through his mind's eye that made up his training leading to this point. Unfortunately Naruto was not mentally prepared for what the man brandished from that pouch.

The very sight of it made the blond come to a screeching halt at less than six feet away out of pure bewilderment. The poor boy was in such a state of loss and confusion that he was left momentarily speechless and rooted in place. The key word being 'momentarily' since it didn't take very long after stopping for his voice to return.

"...what're you doin'?"

Given the amount of space that stood between them, Naruto noted with growing irritation that he could hear the pages of paper being turned.

It certainly didn't help that he watched the man do it too.

"Hm? Oh, this is one of those hobbies I told you the other day." It was hard to say which was more insulting, the fact that the older male said this without looking up from his book or the fact that he said it with the same degree of boredom as he had everything else. "I've just gotten to a good part of the story and I'd like to see how it ends. Don't let me stop you in doing...uh, whatever it is that you're doing right now."

As previously mentioned Naruto was not a complete idiot, otherwise he would not have made it this far in life. Poor decisions in lifestyle choices notwithstanding, Naruto had some measure of intellect and as such knew when he was being goaded. Textbook dumb he may be, but he was thankfully not too gullible. The problem that stood here was that the execution of the man's goading had hit its mark, striking the correct spot to entice a reaction such a tactic required. In The blonde knew what was going on but he couldn't bring himself to care once his hot-blooded nature took the front seat while simultaneously pushing all sense reservation out the window.

"You are so _dead!_ "

And with that being his war-cry, Naruto closed whatever distance remained between them whilst swiftly sliding the sword out from its scabbard. The fact that he could do this much was as basic as it gets, so to that degree Naruto succeeded in swinging the blade in a wide sweeping motion towards Jounin. And in the instant it took for the blonde to blink, the very Jounin was found squatted down, eye still on little orange book while the blade whiffed right over his head.

Without even his hair being cleaved as a result, the ferocity in those blue eyes intensified as he discarded the sheath in favor of having his other hand secured onto the hilt of the blade. With a slight adjustment of his arms and once the momentum of the initial swing his dissipated, Naruto heaved the weapon overhead and just as quickly brought it down onto the spot the man currently occupied on the ground.

"Shinobi combat session number one: Taijutsu." And much to the boy's growing annoyance, Kakashi once again managed to avoid the strike. This time by pivoting himself to where his right profile was now facing the boy; leaving his back exposed to the blade just a few inches short from kissing the dirt. "The art of hand-to-hand combat is essential to just about every shinobi of every rank and, in some cases, one's skill in this field alone is more than enough to excel as a ninja."

With a growl of indignation Naruto twisted the blade to face the man's back and swung once again towards the man, this time in an upward angle. But given the close proximity to the ground the attack originated from, Kakashi had chosen the path of minimum effort and essentially hopped over the blade despite his lack of vision of the weapon itself. That of course didn't stop the boy from repeating a similiar process, twisting the blade and bring the blade back around with another swipe in a descending arch. Seemed the boy's disgruntled attitude would not be quelled any time soon, because once again the older male evaded the attack in a similar manner as his second attack.

Simple pivoting and understanding of the sword's length was all Kakashi needed to avoid it, no tricks and no chakra required to perform this feat in the slightest. Having moved so quickly and so fluidly passed the remaining sections of the blade necessary and back to where he was before, all of that Naruto had missed due to the blasted habit of blinking at the wrong time. What Naruto did note was that instead of facing the man's left profile, he now faced his right, which only renewed the reason why he was still grinding his teeth.

"Some can get away with the minimum requirements provided they have talents in other areas." And on top of all of his failed attempts to land an attack, the guy continued to read and talk as if he was sitting on the toilet reading the news paper! "Though, if we're going to be honest here, I don't think you have much skill in this category...or in any other category for that matter."

"Screw you jerk-ass!" At that comment, the allotted amount of fucks Naruto should have given were crumpled to dust and tossed into the wind.

Raising the blade up to be parallel with his chest, the boy lunged forward with the tip of blade aimed directly at the man's still crouching form. Granted, this action was perhaps not the wisest decision on his part for a multiple of reasons. For one, his sensei's movements were not restricted and two it left him completely open once the thrust of his blade reached its zenith. But by this point the only thing keeping Naruto going was anger and as such he could care less if he was doing precisely what Tenten had instructed him not to do in this situation.

Now, to be fair, throughout all of the previous exchanges one constant that remained was that each swing was usually followed by either a single step forward one a step backward. The basis of having a sword was to keep a certain degree of distance between one's self and whatever opposition stands against them. It was about maintaining distance and doing so without ever taking the eyes off of the opponent. To lose sight of one's opponent was a death sentence in fight like this and to allow the target to enter one's guard was equally detrimental.

So, to some degree or another, Naruto had been staying true to what he had been taught thus far by both keeping his eyes trained on his sensei and maintaining a good degree of distance between them.

Unfortunately the boy had a bad tendency of blinking and that was never a healthy habit against someone who was obviously _much_ faster than him.

"...wha...?" Part of him knew this was going to happen, at least partially. "Where'd he go?"

It was a cycle, his sensei would dodge, he'd get pissed, then he would try again until something gave. What he didn't count on was the man to not just dodge the blade but completely vanish from his former place without a trace. His teammate's, however, were able to see what he could not and that was the sight of that same man crouched behind him with his hands forming a hand seal whilst still holding the little orange book. Both spectators could gather that it was for a Ninjutsu of some sort, but only one of them knew precisely what kind of Ninjutsu.

And that awareness served to plant a seed of concern into his heart and why wouldn't it? If the man was willing to use lethal methods like this, then he truly was taking this test lightly as he appeared to be.

"Naruto, _move!_ " While Sakura held little love for the blonde, she by no means wanted to see him die right in front of her eyes. "Hurry before he kills you!"

But the blonde idiot was too confused by both the outcome of his previous attack as well as the sudden cries from Sakura to act accordingly. He did look over in the direction her voice came from and in doing so was able to finally realize where the man was. But by that point it was far too late, Kakashi's jointed hands moved, and to the blonde and the spectator's surprise, no killing blow was made...at least not literally.

" _Konohagakure_ _Hiden Taijutsu Ogi_ -" For a second, as fleeting as it was, Naruto swore he saw something akin to the terrifying visage of the the Bun-Haired Demon in this man he was to call sensei. Brief, yes, but he still saw it and he realized why once he felt something hit a place that, for every reason in the world, should never be touched by anything except toilet paper. " _Sennen Goroshi_!"

"OOOOOH~" What was it called when one does a rapid alternation between the normal voice and a high voice? Yodel? Yeah, that was it, Naruto was yodeling as he soared through the air clutching his throbbing bum. "MY ACHING ASSSSSSSS!"

"Shouldn't let your opponent get into your blind-spot then~" Was the almost sing-song response Kakashi gave as he flipped to the next page in his book. Only after he heard the splash from the boy's body hitting the creek did he contemplate running his fingers through the water for the sake of it being the most hygienic thing to do. "And now the poor kid is scarred for life; mission accomplished."

Whether or not the latter statement was a personal goal or the man's idea of a joke was up to debate on the spectator's side of things. Sakura, who's tinted cheeks showcased her embarrassment, failed to grasp why this 'technique' had such a long and dramatic name when it was only just a powerful butt-poke. The visibly perturbed Sasuke, on the other hand, was desperately trying to find a reason why god found it necessary to surround him with imbeciles. Although, out of some misplaced respect for the victim of this fowl/foolish act, neither of these two were likely to ever bring this topic back up.

It took a few moments, at least seven to be precise, for things to pick back up from where they left off as two shuriken whizzed through the from beneath the water's surface. An impressive feat in all fairness, but overshadowed by the man nonchalantly plucking them from the air with his fingers without so much as a fleeting glance. Not like that was all the boy had to offer as shortly after at least five identical orange clad blondes shot out from the stream, all of which wearing the expression of righteous anger. The second they touched down on solid ground they wasted no time in rushing towards the man, the intent clear as day and warranted given the degree of humiliation that he suffered.

"Ah, so this is the technique you learned from that scroll incident." He said it mostly to himself, but at least this time Kakashi said it while looking at the group of rapidly approaching blonde's, having already discarded the projectiles from the two digits he caught them with. "You beat Mizuki and Ebisu with this didn't you? Well I can't say I'm not impressed, after all that is a pretty advanced technique, I don't think it's going to help you much here."

"Both those assholes said the same thing and look what happened to them!"

The ringleader, aka the real Naruto most likely, had a moot point there. Both men mentioned clearly underestimated the lad based purely on the gap in rank and skill. And while there was a long list of truths regarding the boy's abilities, there was an equally long list of things that were false about him as well. Kakashi had done his homework, he understood that the kid could be crafty when the time called for it; usually whenever he found himself in hot water.

He also knew that as bad as his grades showed, the boy was capable of having more than a few elaborate tricks hiding up his sleeve. This knowledge proved to be spot on as a loud pop could be heard behind him before feeling a set of arms and legs tightly latch themselves around his neck and lower back; his exposed eye widening a full inch in surprise as a result.

"Shouldn't let your opponent get behind you dumb-ass." Not quite the same way the older male had put it, but the irony didn't elude him. "Now you're all mine, get 'em boys!"

The clones didn't need to be told otherwise and the moment the one was within striking distance, leapt into the air aiming high for the man's stupid masked face with a kick. What was supposed to happen was the sweet satisfaction of kicking the butt-poking bastard in the face and knocking a few of his teeth out. That's what should have happened anyway, but fact and fiction were two different things, and not everything the boy envisioned played out the same way it did in his head.

Because of his sensei, he instead ended up kicking...well himself in the face. About the time the boy's body harshly hit the dirt was when it fully registered by both the kicked and the kicker as to what happened, which was roughly around a few seconds.

"Hey, what the hell is wrong with you! Why'd you kick _me_ dumb ass!?"

Then began the inevitable conflict between a particularly pissed off prankster and one among the gaggle of graceless goons.

"I wasn't aiming at you, and I'm not a dumb ass, dumb ass! I thought I was kicking that stupid guy with the shitty haircut, then out of nowhere you're stupid face got hit instead of his!"

Unlike in previous sessions, Naruto had an audience to witness the sheer stupidity that was him and his ass hole-ish clones.

"What'd you say!?"

"I said you have a stupid face that's what! What, you dumb and deaf!?"

Two sets of eyes and a singular eye all began to sag in disbelief at what was going on in front of them. Was this seriously happening or was this all a giant ruse of some sort? Was the boy in orange really arguing with his clones and insulting himself?

"Hey, we've all got the same face here, remember?" Oh lord, one of the clones had common sense! "So stop being so-"

"Shut up, nobody's talking to you!"

"Wha-"

"Yeah, stay out of this you dumb bastard!"

"Okay, that's it!"

By this point all onlookers were on the same page of thought as three of the six doppelgangers began to tussle amongst themselves in a manner resembling a children's brawl than anything else. The remaining three, so unsure of what to do by this point, simply watched on with no intention of intervening. They were the smarter of the batch it seemed, because after a sporting more than a few lucky shots in here and there, the real Uzumaki got fed up with the losing battle coming from two sides and dismissed the whole lot.

Again though, he didn't come out of that unscathed, which was all the more disappointing when one takes into account that he had not only ridiculed himself but also got his own ass handed to him by replications of himself. To add insult to injury, his stomach chose then to groan stridently in addition to the tightening sensation in his abdominal area.

"...I'm gettin' really hungry." Defeated, tired, and starved, Naruto simply voiced the first complaint that came to mind. So were his teammates, who also felt similar sensations themselves now that one of them had voiced its opinion of the subject of food. "...and now that I think about it, I missed my chance to get a-"

Whatever slump he was about to find himself was abruptly dashed away as a stray sparkling light flickered passed his vision. Once his eyes caught sight of the source, his heart jumped right into his throat in delight as the suns rays reflected off the small silver bell laying in the grass not far from him.

"The bell~" He didn't think twice, the little reservation he had fled the instant he saw it. "Finally, my luck's chang-"

A single step, all he did was take a single step forward before his world was turned upside down in an instant.

Literally.

"iiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" It was almost comical how quickly the boy flailed about in the air as he was abruptly dragged from the ground via the noose that was tied around his ankles. "Oh come on!"

"I don't know what's more embarrassing, the fact that you fell for such an obvious trap or the fact that I thought you would have known better." Said the same calm and equally bored voice of the man who was climbing higher and higher up on the boy's shit-list. "I guess it's a little of column A and column B at this point, wouldn't you say so?"

What made this more frustrating was that Kakashi was sitting on the same tree branch used to suspend the boy in the air. At least he was, up until after he had successfully caught him and stopped flailing everywhere like a wind-chime on a windy day. And top it off further, he was _still_ _reading_ _that stupid orange book of his!_ Needless to say Naruto wished he had his sword on hand right now, but that was currently laying helpless on the flora a good ways away from where the two were currently located.

"Shame you fell for this too, I was about to compliment you on that little trick you pulled back there." For once he didn't say this while looking at his book, but instead looking right up at him. If one were to guess they could assume he was smiling due to the way his eye was closed. "That was a deceptive tactic, risky but it caught me off guard for a second there. Too bad you weren't smart enough to make good use of that strategy and get a bell."

"Bite me!"

"Now, now, let's not get too fussy otherwise I might not cut you down."

Initially, Naruto had intended to retort back with more than a few obscenities thanks to his current predicament. That had been the original intent, yet as his lips parted and his vocal folds were about to produce the necessary vibrations to speak them, they were silenced. It wasn't because he was taking into consideration the man's advice nor was it him choosing to still his tongue. The reason why he stopped was due in part to the numerous projectiles that came from his far right, the flicker of light that gleamed off them as they glided through the air and sunk deep into the masked man's side. Said man's body seemingly tilted sideways from the intensity of the projectile's striking his person, a sight that succeeded in startling the blonde for the second time in the span of a few seconds.

Even though Kakashi's body was soon obscured in a cloud of smoke and soon after replaced with yet another thick tree limb, it still took the boy a by complete surprise.

"H-hey _**hey!**_ Guys, you _do_ realize I'm still pretty close to the guy, right!?" All he was met with was silence, silence that was soon broken by another groan of his stomach; causing the blonde's expression to dissolve into clear discomfort. "They could've at least cut the rope for me...I'm way too hungry for this."

* * *

Immediately when Kakashi's form changed, Sakura too made her move to vacate from her previous location. She had too since she had already compromised herself some time ago, to which she was still kicking herself for doing. But that was hindsight for you, it was always clear after the fact and she should have known better than to think their sensei would go to such an extreme against a bunch of kids. Sure, an enemy would most definitely do so, but a Jounin of Konoha against fresh graduates? Unlikely, but then again she had no idea what to expect during this test so she could be pardoned for it.

Still didn't stop her from mentally berating herself for making such a mistake during such a critical test like this.

"That idiot, I knew he would just make things harder for us." Grumbled the pink-haired young lady through gritted teeth, though she was quick to calm herself as she hastily moved through the foliage. "Bah, never mind him, he's a lost cause anyway. The first thing I need to do is find Sasuke and come up with a new plan of attack."

Sasuke's ambush, though aptly timed, had failed and like her he was probably looking to secure a new location now that they had lost sight of the Jounin. Granted the Uzumaki had provided for a nice distraction for them, the idiot wasn't even able to give them any information regarding what their sensei could do in terms of combat. Sure, he was a Jounin and half of the things he had done were to be expected, but the blonde couldn't hold a candle compared to most of the other kids their age group anyway.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was the best of their class and if anyone stood even a remote chance at getting them than that was him. Haruno, however, wasn't so blinded by idolism to believe that the boy could do such a thing on his own; not against a Jounin at least.

He would need help, _real_ help, and she was damn certain that if the two coordinated an attack together then they could surely secure the objective before the deadline. Getting the bells was all that mattered, so long as they did that then they could officially graduate and be rid of Naruto once and for all. Harsh as it was that was how this test worked, out of the three of them one was guaranteed to fail; there was no way around that. True as it may be that Sakura felt a tang of guilt for admitting that, but for the betterment of the group the weakest link needed to be cut. Add to how poorly the blonde performed and it was clear to everyone who occupied that link in the chain.

That was why she needed to find the Uchiha, find him, organize a plan of attack, and make use of their combined efforts to retrieve the bells as quickly as possible. Such was her mindset as she ran, her emerald eyes darting around in search of any signs that may indicate where the boy had gone. So focused on that task that she unfortunately failed to realize her teacher's solitary gaze was observing her from above as she moved through the foliage.

"Shinobi combat session number two: Genjutsu." Uttered the man, his voice going unheard thanks to the racket the Haruno was making as she traversed through the woods. "Let's see how well you do in this field."

* * *

Despite what his peers would believe, Sasuke wasn't the type of person to be so full of himself to not acknowledge his mistakes. While he may have done his absolute best minimize the amount of mishaps made, he was still aware that he was far from perfect and was susceptible to foul-ups from as the next person. And believe it or not those foul-ups do occur quite often, though one could argue that he was being more than a bit excessive about it than most. What many could overlook as a marginal error he took to being a crippling fault of his own and thus took to amending until he was satisfied.

This obsessive compulsion to be the best most definitely stemmed from his ambition and regardless if it was a good or bad thing it had benefitted him to a great extent up to this point in his life.

The tireless hours of training were not put to waste and no one had any right to claim he didn't deserve to be at the top of his class. He had earned that without question and those who doubted his commitment or work ethic were jaded fools.

So what does such skilled youth do when faced against someone who was vastly superior to him? The answer was, admittedly, quite simple: regroup and reevaluate the current situation. But Sasuke was already aware that in a contest of speed and strength, Hatake was superior hands down. No, that wasn't his focus, the Uchiha reasoned that the only way for him to succeed in this situation was not to place too much thought into the wide skill gap that stood between him and the older male. Instead of focusing on that gap, he decided to focus on what he could use to his advantage.

If he was to have any chance at success, he needed to play off of how much or how little the masked man knew about him; and Sasuke still had more than a few tricks that his peers weren't aware of.

Now the question remained as to what the man expect from him?

How much time would he have to take advantage of even a momentary lapse in action due to surprise?

Such were his thoughts up until the shrill scream from the forest broke the silence that made up the training area. That had been Sakura and given how close the sound was to his location he knew that it would only be a matter of time before he was discovered. Not that the boy had anything against that notion as evident by his lack of effort to hide his presence in the area. He wasn't going to hide, he had no reason to, for no matter what he did or where he hid the Jounin would still likely find him regardless. If this was to be the point where he made his stand then he would do it on his own terms in a battlefield of his choice.

"And then there was one." And much like he predicted, Sasuke's ears picked up the unenthused voice of his sensei behind him. It wasn't the fact that the man was there that surprised him, it was that the Uchiha hadn't heard him approach until that moment that got him. "For your sake let's hope you put up a better fight than the other two did."

"I'm not here to play games, so don't put me in the same league as those weaklings."

"Mh, well, we've yet to see what you're made of; come at me then if you're so sure you'll do bett—"

Kakashi didn't get to finish his little dialog before having to sidestep the hail of metal projectiles hurled his way as the boy had whirled around to face him. Unlike with the Uzumaki, Sasuke wasn't going to humor the man with pleasant banter. Having initiated combat Sasuke wasted no time in utilizing the action to try and bridge the gap between the two as quickly as possible. Sadly his sensei was not as unprepared for his speed as he thought, as the first right straight was met with another side-step from the man along with a lighthearted chop to the center of his back. That was to serve as a warning that his efforts were pointless no doubt, but the Uchiha didn't heed that it and whirled around, jumping high and lashing his leg out to catch the man with the heel of his foot to the man's jaw.

Yet another attack that was met with no positive results as the man's arm rose to stop said attack part-way. Sasuke knew a response would follow now that he was exposed, so he did the reasonable thing and reacted before his sensei could. This reaction was in the form of his other leg shooting out to the man's torso, the flat of his foot touching down harshly on the man's flank jacket. At least it would have had the man not pulled back at just the right time, leaving the boy's foot to meet nothing but air. Gravity kicked in at this point, forcing him to hastily adjust himself to land on all fours on the ground. But as fast as he hit the ground, he had been equally fast in getting back up with his posture focused on Jounin who was waiting for him.

When the young prodigy came close to his target, his clinched fist became a blur as he had thrown a few moderately sized rocks at the man's face. A feint, yes, but it worked well enough to make the man tilt his head to the side to avoid them. That was all the boy need as his free hand retrieved a kunai from the holster on his they and thrust it forward at the man's shoulder. This attack warranted the man to not just evade it, but catch him by the wrist, which the boy responded by shooting his knee out to catch him in the solar plexus. Again this attack failed to connect when Kakashi parried the blow by simultaneously pushing the boy's leg to the side whilst also twisting his own body to in the opposite direction. Undeterred, the boy released his hold on the kunai in his trapped wrist, catching it in a reversed grip with the free hand; the bladed tip threatening to stab the man in the abdomen.

Not liking the lethal direction the child was was going with his attacks, Kakashi opted to just let go of him and put some distance between the two. Of course there was a reason why Sasuke chose this clearing as his battleground after all. And that fact made itself apparent when he tossed that same kunai into the woods, severing the rope that propelled more projectiles right in the path the man had just moved to. Again the Jounin had been forced to evade, his eyes leaving the boy in favor of the weapons being hurled at him from the forest around them.

Hatake, to his credit, had expected a trap of some sort, but purposely neglected to do the proper thing and scope out the area prior to engaging. Hey, he had to give these kids some handicap otherwise this whole test would have been far too unfair of a matchup. But it seemed that such a handicap had been a bit excessive in this case, as Sasuke made good use of the opening he created by taking his eye off the boy. By the time his body stopped skidding through the dirt and putting his book away, the sole surviving Uchiha had closed the distance that stood between them. The moment he was in range, the boy swung a strong downward left hook aimed at his face, which the man intercepted with his right hand before adjusting his grip to the boy's wrist.

However Sasuke was not deterred by this and persisted with his assault and followed up with a knee once again aimed for the man's cranium. While more powerful a blow this was, it was still within the older male's capacity to block the attack with his left forearm and pushing the offending limb away. He didn't get much time after this to relax either, as the tip of Sasuke foot nearly struck him dead in the chin had he not pull his head back to evade it. Only afterwards did he take note of the sightings of a smirk on the Uchiha's otherwise impassive face as the same leg that had whiffed passed his face came back down on top of the arm still holding the boy's left wrist. That was when he saw the boy's right leg move up to join the other underneath while his right hand moved to towards his hip; right where the two jingling bells dangled tantalizingly for the boy to take.

Needless to say Kakashi was quick to release the grip he had on the boy's wrist before putting some much needed distance between himself and the Uchiha. Not before the tip of the boy's finger brushed against the surface of the bell, a dangerously close call if the older male was to be completely honest with himself. Sasuke, for his part, had managed to right himself before touching back down onto the dirt; though he couldn't keep the smug look of satisfaction from leaving his face. To his credit Kakashi had to give praise where it was due and the boy had done a good job at enticing a bit of panic in the man for the first time since the test began.

"Well, I have to hand it to you, you weren't kidding when you said you weren't like the others." Said the man, this time with a hint of apprehension to his otherwise unflappable demeanor. "I guess all that talk about you being the cock of the walk wasn't as far-fetched as I thought it would be."

"You just underestimated me and that's your own fault."

"I may have given you slightly less credit than you deserved, true. Just remember that I won't make that mistake twice and like the other boy you missed your opportunity to get the bell just now. You won't get a second chance like that again, that much I can promise."

And that was something Sasuke was equally aware of. He grazed the bell, but he wasn't able to get it in that brief window of opportunity, the only one he would likely get during this test. Kakashi now had the awareness to know not to take him lightly and with the element of surprise now lost, the likelihood of getting such a chance like that again was very slim. Sasuke knew all of that and yet part of him still felt mildly satisfied with the result.

Now he knew he could get to that point, he knew he could touch the bell, the next step was to get his hands on it and claim it for himself. How he was to do that was still a work in progress, but at least he knew it wasn't impossible; he would just need to play his cards right to reach that point. All that being said, what he needed was something to serve as a distraction long enough to create a repeat of that same scenario just now. Something that could buy him enough time to get close, swoop in, and retrieve the objective before the man could react.

There were a few traps left he could use, but that would require the man to move his position for them to be of any use. That left him with his one trump card, the one he had been saving for quite awhile now and in all honesty wasn't something he was content with using here. However if he was to make any real progress, then he would need to do it now or not at all. And so Sasuke began flashing through hand seals at a rapid pace, his intentions clear as day whilst as Kakashi observed with mild astonishment before the edges of his lips quirked upwards.

"Shinobi combat session number three: Ninjutsu."

* * *

Backtracking for a moment, away from where the action would eventually take place, our blonde loudmouth was currently in a predicament of sorts. Well, not really, he was just far too pissed off about his situation to do much else. See, he hadn't been completely idle once Kakashi had left, he did cut the original noose and had a brief taste of freedom. Yet that freedom was swiftly pulled out from under him when a second one came, trapped his left leg, and put him right back in the same place as before. Only this time he was one kunai short and a few pegs higher on the scale of pissed-offery.

Really though, if someone pulled the same trick on you twice and you fell for it both times, any person would be quite annoyed at both the offender and themselves.

"I mean seriously, the first time was annoying but second time was just plain asshole-ish." Grumbled the blonde to himself, still suspended in the tree and still aggravated by being right back where he started. "Who does that sorta thing anyway? And when the hell did he have the time to set this one up? I could believe one, but two back to back like this? If that doesn't screams douche bag then I don't know what does."

...let's just say he hadn't completely gotten over being fooled twice in a row.

Thankfully his griping was cut off upon hearing the shrill screams of his female teammate from the forest. Now he had some motivation to work with, as that was most definitely not a good sign. Although, just as he was about to move to cut the rope a second time, his blue sphere's caught sight of the bentos that were left unattended and ripe for the picking. With Kakashi who knew where and his stomach begging to be fed, the blonde reasoned that now would be the best time to swipe them now that they were exposed like this. No doubt he would do better if he had something on his stomach and perhaps then he might give him that extra boost he would need to finally get a bell.

In another life that would have been the choice he would make, but that and this life were different. Because after Naruto cut the rope, touched down, he didn't go in that direction. No, he went to retrieve the sword and sheath he had lost or discarded during the course of his 'fight' with Kakashi earlier. Once secured in its scabbard, he rushed in the direction he assumed to be the correct path to where Sakura's scream had originated from. Bare in mind he did this with a heavy heart, or rather a heavy stomach, as he was forced to ignore the grumbling complaints of his gut as well as the hunger cramps that became more pronounced the more he exerted himself.

"I know, I know, I'll feed you all the ramen you could want just not now."

That statement didn't help, but somehow he muscled through it. After trekking for a couple minutes, he eventually came upon the sight that actually made him take a step back in shock. Reason being was due to Haruno Sakura, the prettiest and smartest girl of his class, laying in the grass foaming from the mouth with her skin as pale as snow. Soon, however, shock gave way to panic as he hurriedly rushed to her side to assess what had happened to her. Not that he knew what to do in this situation to begin with, he had skipped a lot of classes in the academy so there were lessons that were taught that he neglected to learn.

"Oi, Sakura-chan, can you hear me!? Hello, Sakura-chan, wake up!" His panic was evident as he was knelt beside her, gripping her shoulders and violently shaking her in hopes of getting a reaction of some sort. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, _what do I do!_ Is it mouth to mou—no, wait, that's if someone's drowning; damn it!"

Unsure and unaware of what to do in this situation, Naruto had few options at his disposal. On one hand he couldn't just leave her like this, but on the other he didn't have the knowledge to effectively handle the situation either. The last thing Naruto wanted to do here was make things worse for the girl, but to do nothing was just as bad an option as well. What could he do to help her get out of this state? What options did he have at his disposal? Nothing as far as he knew and he was not about to leave her the way she was. So Naruto decided to do something he never in his young life imagined doing to the girl of his dreams.

"Sorry for this Sakura-chan, but you need to snap out of it." What the boy didn't realize was that Sakura was already beginning to come back to her senses now that her own personal nightmare had come and gone. "I'm really, really sorry about this!"

A resonating slap echoed ominously through the small area as the boy smacked the girl clean across the face. It was hard enough to hurt, hard enough to sting, but not hard enough to much else aside from that. Let it be said that the blonde had nothing but good intentions at heart for his actions here. All he was trying to do was snap her out of whatever daze their sensei had put her into. Was it the correct course of action? Hard to say really, but that was the only thing the boy thought would work in this particular situation.

And lo and behold, Sakura's eyes gained a bit of life in them as she fully registered what he had just done. Naruto, on his part, felt a sense of relief overwhelm him as a familiar grin plastered itself across his face as he looked down at the girl of his dreams, almost proud that he seemingly did something right for once.

"Haaa, I'm glad that worked, I was worried there for a sec." So relieved was he that he failed to recognize the look of pure fury that burned within the eyes of his precious Sakura-chan. "Sure was a good thing I came lookin' for ya, huh?"

His words, his chuckles, all of it fell on deaf ears as Sakura's hands balled up into fists as protruding veins throbbed in rage at what the blonde had done. What happened next literally passed within seconds, she sprang up and promptly decked the boy right in the jaw with enough force to put him flat on his ass a few feet away from where she was. The offending party that was struck here couldn't help but grip the said jaw whilst laying on his side, silently cursing the throbbing ache that was coming from his now bruised cheek on top of being flat-out confused.

"Where the hell do you get off hitting me like that you moron!" Shouted the pinkette who was currently sporting a light red outline of a Naruto-sized handprint on her cheek. "And what the hell are you even doing here idiot, you should be out there getting one of those bells!"

"I would, but I heard you scream, so I came to help." Troublemaker he may be, Naruto was still an honest kid when it counted. "I didn't wanna smack you, but I didn't know what else to do."

"Well I didn't ask for your help now did I? And if I did need help you are the last person in the village I would ask for help."

That comment actually stung a bit and it would have shown if he wasn't so busy nursing his jaw.

"Sah, whatever, I don't have time to babysit you Naruto." Picking herself up off the ground, the emerald eyed girl began to scan the immediate area in hopes of getting a clue that may point her in the correct direction. "Right now I need to find Sasuke before Kakashi-sensei finds him."

"I hadn't seen that bastard since we started, so who knows if sensei's found him yet or not." Grumbled the blonde sitting cross-legged in the dirt, still rubbing his slightly swollen cheek. "I mean, let's face it, the only thing that bastard did so far was toss some weapons at him from the bushes somewhere. He could be anywhere, he could even be at that stone where the bentos are being stashed at for all we know. Not that I care about that bastard anywa—hey, hold on, is that smoke?"

"Where?"

"Over there, see?"

Following the boy's finger with her gaze, she found that there was indeed a plum of black smoke just barely skirting over the edge of the treetops from where they currently were. Fully aware that there wasn't supposed to be anyone else in the area besides them and their sensei, Sakura was drawn to the obvious conclusion. That had to be Sasuke's doing, it but why would he use smoke to signal his location? Doing it that way would obviously alert the Jounin to his whereabouts, but perhaps he did it for that exact purpose. Maybe he was drawing him out so that she could swoop in with an ambush? Hard to say what the reason was, but regardless she wasn't about to waste too much time thinking about it. Instead she simply took off in the direction the smoke was coming from, not at all caring to regard the blonde in the slightest in doing so.

"H-hey, Sakura-chan, where're you goin'?" Bewildered and unaware of the girl's thoughts, the boy simply sat there for a few seconds before scrambling to his feet to follower after her. "Wait for me!"

Based on how she had already been given a significant head start, it became clear to him when he didn't see her through the brush of the forest that his call fell on deaf ears. She didn't wait for him and as easy as she should have been to catch sight of her pink hair, he didn't see such a sight as he ran after her. He likely would have lost her if he hadn't heard yet another scream coming from the girl. A few adjustments to the initial path he had been going were all it took to eventually see the sightings of what appeared to be a moderately sized niche in the woods.

When he stepped through the shrubbery mess that made up the clearing's edge, the blonde took note of two particular things that stood out to him the most. The first and foremost was the obvious unconscious pink haired girl laying motionless once again in the dirt a few meters short from where he was standing. As for the second thing, well, it wasn't as clear until after he fully took in his surroundings and came across it. It was Sasuke, eyes open and giving staring directly up at him with a flat expression and a hint of agitation gradually growing apparent as the two continued to stare at one another.

This stare-off lasted a couple seconds, six to be precise, before Naruto's brain caught up with what he was looking at.

"...I swear I will end you if you start laughing."

Sasuke's voice mirrored his expression flawlessly, however that did little to intimidate the blonde who was on the verge of turning blue in his efforts to restrain himself. Sure as hell didn't help that the brooding dark-haired prodigy had to look up at him from being neck high in the dirt less than a few feet away. So it was no surprise that, after several long moments of stained silence between the two, Naruto eventually cracked.

"Pfft." That little slip effectively broke whatever restraint remained as the boy was sent into hysterical fit of laughter. So uncontrolled was it that he lost his ability to stand, falling to his hands and knees whilst continuing to point a shaky finger right at the neck-high Uchiha. "Oh this is awesome, totally the best day ever!"

If he could, he would be throttling the blonde right about now but given the circumstances, Sasuke understandably was stuck with just gritting his teeth.

"I mean, this _hole_ day has done nothing but shit on me. But this, this is a _hole_ new meaning to being neck-deep in bad luck."

If being laughed at for his misfortune was bad enough, Naruto was making it worse breaking out the puns on top of that.

"Ah, wait, I think I have something for this!" Whatever gods may exist surely were not on Sasuke's side at the moment as Naruto began rummaging through his equipment pouch before producing a thick black marker. "Hehehe, always prepared for just the right time."

"...touch me with that and I'll break all ten of your fingers." He wasn't joking at this point, he would do it, and he had every right to do it if that marker was permanent. "I mean it idiot, I will hurt you in ways you wouldn't believe were possible if you don't stop goofing around and get me out of this hole."

"Huuh why would I help you out you dirty bastard? I didn't see you help me when I was strung up in a tree."

"Obviously because it's not that hard to cut the rope yourself, which you did just fine on your own."

"Yeah, well, if that's how it is then dig yourself out then; shouldn't be too hard for you, now should it?"

"Maybe it wouldn't, but it would eat up too much time, which means less time to secure a bell."

By this point Naruto had somewhat gotten himself together to approach the boy with marker still in hand; cap removed in all. Yet at the mention of the bells, their objective in this test, something clicked in his head that wiped the grin right off his face and replaced with a rather pensive look. True, he could just leave Sasuke here and take another shot at getting the bells himself. Doing that, however, wouldn't end well for him and he knew it. He was too hungry, and if their sensei could put Sasuke of all people in his place without much effort what chance did he stand in his sorry state right now?

Say what you will of Uzumaki Naruto, but even he knew when he was over his head from time to time.

"...tch, the one chance I get to do this and I'm passing it up." Disgruntled and with an air of disappointment, Naruto put away the marker, placed his sword down on the ground, and formed a soon-to-be familiar hand sign. "Gimme a sec, _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_."

Two pops and some smoke later, three identical blonde's now stood side by side each other. Without a word the three moved forward and began to dig away at the dirt that the Uchiha was currently submerged in; unaware of the said boy's gaze as they did so. Watching this all take place only confirmed what he thought the previous incident where this technique was used.

These weren't just illusions, these clones were all solid and were able to act freely on their own accord without need of verbal instructions from their creator. Seeing it up close just confirmed this, but what it didn't do was explain precisely where the blonde had learned it. It explained how he passed the final exam, they were still clones, but why did he get such a different variation of the basic clone technique when the rest of the class did not?

"Oi, idiot, where'd you learn this technique?"

"None of your business, that's where."

"Is this how you passed the graduation exam?"

"Yup, why the hell do you care?"

"I don't, idiot."

"Then why ask, dumb ass?"

Scuffing, the Uchiha said nothing more while the blonde continued in his efforts to dig his teammate out of the dirt. Had this been a solitary effort it may have taken a bit longer to accomplish on his own, but with four extra hands helping out the time it took was effectively cut by my than half. After making the hole wide enough and a bit of heaving to dislodge the raven-haired boy's arms, the Uchiha was free from his captivity and had taken to brushing himself off as the two clones were promptly dispelled with their task reaching completion.

"Okay, you're out, now what?"

"Simple, find sensei, get a bell, and pass; what you and Sakura do is not my problem."

"What do you mean—" Unfortunately he wasn't given the chance to finish, for Sasuke was already on the move leaving him where he stood. "...jerk."

With a grumpy exhale, he picked up his sword and turned to reawaken Sakura who still lay unconscious. What it was that put her in this state a second time was beyond him, however he knew this time what he wasn't going to do in terms of waking her up. After spending a good couple minutes easy shaking the pink haired young lady's vision began to come back as her eyes slowly opened to the sight of her orange clad teammate looking down at her...again. When her eyes regained their awareness and subsequent anger, Naruto did the wise thing here and stepped a few paces away from her with both hands raised in the universal sign of peace.

"I didn't hit ya, I swear!"

Anger gave way for irritation as the girl slowly shook away the fog that came from unconsciousness. With the grogginess ebbing away, she took to her surroundings and was glad to note that Sasuke's decapitated head was not laying upright on the ground. She already had one bad scare with his mangled, broken and bloodied corpse hobbling towards her. Such a sight was not one she wanted to witness firsthand ever again, of course she had a feeling such a vision would haunt her dreams for quite a while now that she had seen it once already.

Strangely there was a large hole where she believed she saw the boy before, which made her question if what she had seen was actually another illusion or if something else had happened. Then she remembered that Naruto was standing off to the side of her vision.

"What's with the hole?"

"Um, pretty sure sensei buried that bastard Sasuke down there. Not sure, didn't say what happened even after I dug his sorry ass out of there; didn't even get a thanks."

"So Sasuke-kun was here?"

"Yeah, he just ran off to find Kakashi-sensei and get one of those bells. Said something 'bout what we do isn't his problem or something, the douche bag."

"Which way did he go!?"

To that he simply pointed behind him with his thumb, not even able to say 'that way' before watching the girl bolt passed him. Unlike last time he was prepared and tailed after her until eventually he was running alongside her, an action that severed to add fuel to the rapidly growing fire of agitation.

"Why are you following me Naruto? I already told you I don't have time to babysit you, so get lost!"

"But we're already going to the same place anyway, right?" Not necessarily, neither of them knew where the Uchiha prodigy was or where their sensei for that matter. "I figured that we could help each other this way. Besides I know where sensei stashed our lunch, if we're lucky we can snatch it and get our energy back before—"

"Naruto, take a hint already, I. Don't. Want. Your. Help!" Sakura wouldn't admit it, but the mention of food did almost tempt her to hear the blond out. Key word being almost, considering it was Naruto of all people and by this point it was unlikely that Kakashi had left them completely unattended. "As a matter of fact Naruto, neither me or Sasuke needs your help. We don't need you, we never asked you to be on this team, and your attempt to show off that beat-up sword of yours is what got me found out in the first place. So if you really want to help, go away and stop messing things up for us."

The Uzumaki didn't get a another word in before the pink haired girl upped her pace, pulling away from him as he staggered a short ways behind. While he could catch up if he wanted, part of him felt more than a little downtrodden by the girl's rant just then. He would have argued that he wasn't trying to show off, at least not intentionally, and he would have apologized for making her give away her position. She didn't give him the chance to do any of that which wasn't surprising since nobody, not her or anyone else for that matter, gave him the chance to really explain himself when something went wrong.

That's just how it always was, now that he knew why it stung less, but it didn't take away from the fact that it still stung. Granted he was accustomed to it enough by this point that whatever dejection he felt had elapsed, part of him didn't feel like he did anything wrong.

Whatever musing he had as he ran were abruptly dashed into the wind as the loud ring of an alarm rang out in the distance. Noon, which meant that their time was up and the test was over. Which meant that the grueling punishment for their failure was not going to be pleasant, something his stomach felt the need to remind him about in that moment.

"I take back what I said before, today sucks."

* * *

There was little surprise to find that Naruto had been the last person of the team to arrive at the three stumps at the center of the training ground. Kakashi stood waiting in front of these wooden posts, with Sakura and Sasuke barely acknowledging his arrival before dismissing him. Not that he cared, he was too busy gripping his still groaning stomach as the hunger cramps wreaked havoc on his gut. Hatake himself hardly looked up from his book to pay him much mind, at least that was how it was until he sat down beside the rest of his team before promptly snapping it shut.

One of the problems that came when looking at the man was gauging him since all that anyone could see was his one eye which seemed to always maintain the same dull look about them.

"Well, now that everyone's here, I think it's about time I gave you all some good news." His voice sure as hell didn't sound like he was about to give said good news, but the three listened intently regardless. "Upon assessment and the essential information gathered from this test, I have come to decide that none of you will be sent back to the academy."

Relief, sweet intoxicating relief filled all parties effected by this decision and it was painfully evident for all of them. Why wouldn't they be relieved? This whole time they were under the belief that one of them, regardless of aptitude, would fail this test. Here they were being told none of them would be forced to play the role of scapegoat for the sake of the other two's success.

"That's right, none of you are going back to the academy because, after today, none of you will be permitted to be a shinobi ever in your lives."

And boom goes the dynamite.

"What!"

"Are you kidding me!?"

"I'm afraid say I'm not kidding, in fact I'm beginning to suspect that between all of us here, the only person who's taking the career as a shinobi seriously is me. Not one of you truly intends to do this job as far as I can see, if you did this test would have been completed within the first half hour. But none of you seem to understand the full grasp of what it means to be a true shinobi, and sending you back to the academy would be a waste for both you and the village's time."

"B-but you can't do that! You can't just decide that we can't be shinobi just like that, it's not fair!"

"Life isn't fair, Uzumaki, and I can make such a decision as both an instructor and as a Jounin." Two sets of teeth were gritted together with enough intensity to hurt both boy's as Kakashi said this. "None of you deserve the right to be shinobi or even understands its real meaning...well, perhaps there was potential in one of you, but unfortunately it only takes a few spoiled apples to ruin the whole batch."

In his anger, despite all efforts to maintain his composure, that last segment was what served to make him snap. Without word or warning, Uchiha Sasuke shot up from his seated position and made a full forward dash to inflict some form of harm in the older man who talked down to him. The two behind him, these fools who were only pretending, they were the cause behind his failure.

There was no reason for him to be paired up with such weaklings, children, incompetent fools who's motivations were all so fickle and petty by comparison to his own. He could not and would not accept that all his efforts, all his training, hard work, and dedication leading to this moment would all be for naught.

Tragically Naruto's persistent habit to blink at the wrong time would kick in. The next thing he saw was his self-proclaimed rival almost face first in the gravel, a kunai poised to his throat with the one holding it pinning the boy's arm behind his back with his knee sitting on his back.

"Is this how the Uchiha prodigy acts when he doesn't get his way? This is the same boy who told me not to place him in the same league as 'those weaklings' right?" Now he was just taunting him, and rightfully so since that tidbit of knowledge made a certain blonde more than a bit miffed. "You say you're not here to play games and yet you are so insistent on doing everything on your own. As if the people who are supposed to be your teammates are so far beneath you that you can complete this test without them."

"I'm actually rooting for Kakashi-sensei at this point."

"Na-ru-to!"

"What? You heard him, he flat out told me he didn't care about us and what sensei said fits the bill perfectly. I even helped him out of that hole he was stuck in earlier, but do I get any thanks for that? No!"

"You're not in any particular position to judge either, Uzumaki." Said Uzumaki felt a chill actually go down his spine upon being subjected to the man's eerily calm stare. "Need I remind you that it was your own recklessness and obstinacy that ultimately put one, if not both, of your fellow teammates in danger of the enemy."

"Yeah, see, it's just as I told you before Naruto, you're showboating is what made us give away our positions. If you would have just wasted—"

"Had he waited, what would have happened?" Now it was Sakura's turn to feel a chill as the man put her on the spot with his gaze. "You had several opportunities to provide assistance, both before and after my departure, yet you did nothing and instead went out to search for Sasuke here. Furthermore you flat out refused the proposal of cooperation when, deep down, you knew that would be the best course of action."

Nobody spoke up there, nobody had too or had reason to now that each of their individual flaws were put out in such an open display. In their own ways, in their own actions or lack of action, they each played a role that ultimately resulted in their failure today. They all knew it, there was no denying it, and even if they did it wouldn't do anything aside from showcasing their own delusions of who was at fault. Not one person messed up, all of them had messed up and pointing fingers or pinning blame on any one individual was social suicide at this point.

"I honestly am at a loss of words at how poorly the three of your performed here today. The purpose of this test is so basic, so entrenched into the history of this village that it amazes me how you failed to grasp it. But perhaps that is a fault of the academy, or perhaps it is you yourselves who are at fault here. I can't say for sure which is the root of this utter lack of awareness, but I for one have no intention of letting this go on."

Despite what he said otherwise, his actions following this differed from what the group had expected. Calmly he removed himself off his student and moved instead towards the stone slab not far ahead of where the three were currently situated.

"Can any of you tell me what this stone is?" Either they were too somber about having their individual faults called out or they blissfully unaware, whichever it was nobody answered. "This is the memorial stone, engraved on it are the names of countless individuals who are recognized as heroes to the village."

"Oh!" Evidently that struck just the right cord in one particularly lively student of his. "That sounds good to me, being a hero is as bad-ass as it gets and if the whole village knows it then that's right up my alley!"

"For your own sake, I hope you don't end up on this stone."

"What's that supposed to mean!?"

"Naruto...you do know what a memorial is, right?"

"Huh, um..."

No, to answer Sakura's question, he did not.

"The names on this stone belong to those who died in the service of the village; meaning they were all killed in action." Clarified Kakashi, effectively quelling whatever high spirits that the blonde had been in before fading into black as the morbid realization rendered him silent. "On this stone lie the names of many shinobi who met their end in the line of duty. Some of the names here were once comrades of mine and some others are the names of my closest friends. This is the grim reality of this career, and as a Jounin sensei it is my duty to ensure that those who graduate from the academy are properly prepared to prevent such a needless losses of life."

The collective silence between the three was something that was considerably less stained than before. Gloomy yes, but not stained as they each came to understand the reason behind Kakashi's harsh lecture moments ago. Made sense, for them to be sent out as they were, then someone among the three of them would in all likelihood be dead within a year.

Life was invaluable, one couldn't put a price-tag on that, and as much as one may have hated or disliked another, none of the children here wholeheartedly wanted to see the target of that negative emotion die. They could claim to not care as much as they wanted, but could they really make such a claim if the dead corpse of that person was laying at their feet?

Hopefully each child would have answered that question with a loud 'no'.

Seemed Kakashi too was in a gloomy state by his own words, because his tone had been grave. Despite that, he still had a job to do here and thus, after finally tearing his eyes away from the stone, he turned his sights back on the children who were to be his students.

"Alright you three, against my better judgment, I feel that this little talk here may have tipped the balance a bit. Therefore, I've decided to give you all one last chance to prove yourselves to me. I've already placed your failures in front of you, learn from what I've said and you may come see the real purpose of this test."

"Huh?" This was Sakura, actually, although she and Naruto did share the same degree of confusion. "What real purpose?"

"That's for you three to discover for yourselves. I gave you all the clues you need to figure it out and I already said one of you had the potential to understand the real meaning." He neglected to say who as well, an irksome thought that Sakura all but shouted in her mind. "Now eat up, what comes after will be much harsher than what I showed previously, so you will need every bit of strength you can get. Excluding, of course, the Sasuke here; maybe next time he'll think twice before lashing out at his superior."

That actually earned the man a heated glare considering he was practically running on empty. Because they were getting this second chance though he didn't say anything, plus he had no right to considering his actions. There were repercussions for these things, what right did he have to complain when he was in the wrong?

"Before I go, know this, if either of you so much as gives him a grain of rice, you fail. No questions, no complaints, just immediate failure; I mean it."

No skin off Naruto's bones, he didn't plan on doing that to begin with so he wasn't against pigging out on his lunch. The same couldn't be said for Sakura though, and that was probably why Kakashi mentioned it to begin with. Her nod in understanding was conflicted, but she did so, whereas the Uzumaki was already moving to collect on the food the man had provided for them. Engrossed in finally giving his stomach some gratification, he didn't realize the man had left the area as he promptly began stuffing his face.

Haruno had, more or less, been more tentative in her consumption rate in between the not-so-subtle glances at the Uchiha to her far left. Her eyes screamed of guilt, albeit it wasn't strong enough to make her lose her appetite considering she was the most starved person among the three of them. Everything was silent between the three of them up until the embarrassingly loud groan of Sasuke's stomach broke it with its cries. Sasuke had to turn his head away from the group to hide his lightly flushed cheeks caused from his own embarrassment.

"Geez, and here I thought my gut was being loud."

"Shut up, I'll be fine, just eat your stupid lunch so we can get on with the test."

Like hell he would be fine, he was just trying to save face. One didn't need to be a prodigy to see it and coming from Naruto of all people that said something. And if he were to be perfectly honest, it was a very sad sight to behold; which was weird in itself. Any other time he would have gladly stuffed his face without care or concern for invoking the brooding boy's ire.

Strangely though he wasn't, probably because there wasn't anything remotely satisfying about watching another person starve. They had been out here since morning, so that meant four hours of no food and about to go on to a fifth hour. Plus whatever energy that was exerted during this test and you have someone who was really, _really_ low in terms of energy.

Everyone had to eat sometime, lord knew he would have dreaded it if he was in Sasuke's shoes right now.

Maybe it was the lecture that Kakashi had given them prior to the lunch break. Perhaps it was pity, or possibly the genuine side of him that many people weren't privy to seeing on a daily basis. The Uzumaki wasn't sure what it was, but despite what he was told otherwise, he took one last mouthful of rice, before putting the tray down behind him.

"Pss, hey, take a few handfuls; quick. I dunno if he's still around or not, but I don't wanna chance it."

Unheard of, unprecedented, inconceivable! Yet before her very eyes, Sakura stared in bewilderment as the blonde 'subtly' edged the box containing his lunch over towards the equally bewildered and confused Uchiha beside him. They hated each other, ever since they met the two never got along and were always fighting amongst themselves. Why then was Naruto of all people doing something that could possibly get him terminated from the test.

"W-what are you doing you idiot, you'll get us all failed if you—"

"Na-uh, he didn't say all of us, besides what he doesn't know won't hurt him." Typical logic of an idiot, but he did have a point...sorta. "Besides, this isn't the first time I broke a few dumb rules made by bossy sensei's."

"Even if that is true, you'll still fail if he finds out. Besides, you don't even know if he's lurking around somewhere."

"I haven't detected him for a while now, so this is the best time to do this." Clarified Sasuke his temptation to follow through with the offer provided to him overwhelmed by a solitary question lingering at the forefront of his mind. "More importantly, why are you even doing this idiot?"

For his part, the boy's expression turned thoughtful for a time as he sat there with his arms folded. What was the reason behind this sudden bout of generosity? Why was he sticking his neck out for the person he openly disliked and considered to be his rival? Did there need to be a reason to show compassion for someone else? No, there didn't always need to be reason to help someone else, regardless of how much you may dislike them. But in truth Naruto didn't have that sort of mindset, most of the time he at least wanted something in return like most people would.

He didn't have a single reason to help him, so why was he?

Such a question gave way to a different one of striking similarity.

Among the short list of people, why did any of the people Naruto knew of help him? Hiruzen, the freaking Hokage, had on more than one occasion showed him a rare taste of genuine kindness that the boy didn't get to experience very often growing up. Iruka too had given him a taste of that same kindness on occasion too and was even willing to risk his life for his sake when anyone else would have forsaken him. Even Tenten, someone he barely even knew, showed him the same degree of kindness in helping him, something none of his peers had ever bothered to do before. None of these people had to stick with him, every last one of them could have pushed him aside for the sake of their own interests, but none of them did.

They may have had their own reasons, each different than the last, but all three of them shared one key thing: they didn't leave him behind.

Coming upon that answer, Naruto drew his own conclusion for the previous inquiry; which was pretty easy to come by now that he thought about it.

"Meh, what can I say, I'm not the type of guy who leaves people behind." He said this with a shrug, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world to say. "Besides, while you're still a bastard, we're stuck as teammates now. So if you've got my back then I've got yours; just be sure thank me every once in a while."

It's easy to forget that most children their age are influenced heavily by the people they looked up to. Difficult as it was to draw out, the good qualities instilled in him by those said role models did sporadically pop out from time to time. Such an answer must have caught the two off-guard, because both Sakura and Sasuke bore similar expressions of mild surprise. Those words coming from him of all people sounded strange, albeit neither could deny that he honestly meant what he was saying.

They were aware enough of his habit to pull words out from his ass in tough moments, but this wasn't him sprouting nonsense. Should further proof be needed, then the fact that he putting his own neck on the line for someone he held nothing but contempt for was more than enough to show his sincerity.

For his part, Naruto just chuckled while sporting his ever cheeky grin; sheepishly rubbing at the nape of his neck upon being subjected to the two's collective stares.

"Naruto, give me your bento for a second."

Confused by the request, the boy nevertheless did as he was told and passed it over to the girl in question. Three quarters of it was gone, meaning Naruto hadn't left too much for Sasuke to eat. Given the circumstances though, she wasn't so critical about the blonde being more than a bit stingy. All of them came into this test starving, herself especially, but hearing and seeing the boy to her immediate left was acting all of a sudden tipped the balance in the opposite direction it had originally been leaning towards. Guilt was what ate at her and seeing the blonde putting himself in danger of failing made it worse.

"I give up some of my share too." If he was willing to risk getting kicked out of the shinobi program to help Sasuke then why in the hell shouldn't she be willing to do the same? "Just remember if Kakashi shows up and fails us all, you are so dead Naruto."

"Hehe, if that happens, I might as well be if I can't be a shinobi."

Throughout the exchange, Sasuke remained silent, watching the two as they spoke to each other. These weren't shinobi, they didn't take this life seriously like he did. Neither one of them were worth his time of day and there was no question that he could manage just fine on his own. Yet their efforts, vain as they may be, were something worth appreciating. Didn't change the fact that they were still weaklings, pretenders chasing after petty dreams, all the same he could still come to appreciate this display of comradery.

"Alright, half a tray, scarf that down before sensei shows up."

As if he needed to be told twice, although for he had enough sense of mind to strain his senses once more out of precaution. Nothing just like before, something that was susceptible to change at a moment's notice. Had this been other time, were the circumstances not as dire, he wouldn't have any reason to go through with this. Food and time were a luxury at this point and if he didn't do it now then he would not get another chance when it mattered.

One bite, that was all he got before all hell broke loose as the clearing they were in erupted by a massive cloud of dirt and gravel were kicked up into the air.

"You lot—!"

Figures that the worst possible scenario would play out right when the mood had started to change. Panic settled into the hearts of the group, some cases being more obvious than others, but it was still there regardless. Reasonable considering how utterly outraged their sensei looked as he emerged from the cloud; obviously being the source of it. What would unfold was evident, what he would do to them before failing them was not. Surely with such a degree anger visible in that solitary gaze implied that they were going to suffer from a lot more than just a stern talking to like before.

Imagine their surprise with what came next.

"Pass."

Too bad two members of team seven fainted right on the spot.

* * *

At the zenith of the mid-afternoon sun, a particular individual was currently in a state of boredom in the shaded zone of the woods. Bored due to lack of activities now that she had been dismissed for the day by her sensei. With not much else to do, she decided to get back to her target practice and found the task in itself inexplicably dull. Well, perhaps it wasn't so bizarre since this wasn't the first time she had suffered from this feeling many times in the past. If she got sloppy because of it then she would have welcomed it since it would give her a reason to put some effort into her target practice.

As it were, however, she was still doing said target practice albeit with blatant half-heartedness as every few minutes or so she would throw a kunai at the target placed in her blind spot.

The resonated 'thunck' of the projectile hitting the target and a fleeting glance was all it took to confirm that, yes, she hit a bull's-eye like always.

Tenten merely let out an exasperated sigh at the sight of that as she took to gazing out into the distance whilst twirling her next kunai with her finger. She was bored, it showed in both posture and attitude, and she was counting down the number kunai she had before packing it in and going home. The dry spell she was in wasn't going to go away and no amount of casual target practice was going fix that.

Another couple moments passed, another weapon was thrown, and another 'thunck' was the reward for her efforts.

In her state of boredom, she had taken to recalling what her latest training partner had discussed the other day regarding the genin test he was to take today. She also recalled just who exactly was going to be issuing that test, Hatake Kakashi; her own sensei's 'hip rival' and the man who failed every other team he had taken his test. Now she had the advantage of knowing what the real purpose behind the Genin test, so if she wanted she could have told the blonde loudmouth exactly how to pass it. Problem that stood with that notion was that doing it that way was wrong on many levels.

If he didn't learn the purpose himself, he would never learn to use his head and think for himself. Tenten had no reason to baby him or give him tips for a career that was all about learning from experience. Sometimes the best way to learn was to fail, that was an important lesson that Gai had taught her over the year that she had spent under his tutelage.

Another couple moments passed, another weapon was thrown, and another 'thunck' was the reward for her efforts.

Having to play the role as one of the more mature members of her team had its ups and downs. It made her a bit down to earth, someone who focused more on the logical side of things and didn't leave much room for an overtly optimistic viewpoint. While that area belonged to her sensei and his favored student, she and her other teammate were in the far opposite side of their views; though to be fair said teammate could be much harsher than she was. So, by comparison, Tenten had more reason to think that fate would perhaps smile on her training partner.

Just because she had more reason to do so didn't imply that she did unfortunately. Had she more time and had it been any other Jounin in charge of the test, then maybe she would have been more inclined to think he could pass. Sadly the Uzumaki had been dealt a bad had from the get-go. No amount of Kenjutsu training would change that, which was unfortunate since he was starting to inch his way into progress.

Another couple moments passed—

"Ten-cha—" Another weapon was thrown, and another 'thunck' occupied _this time_ with a light whimper from Naruto was the reward for her efforts. "S-sorry Tenten-san, I'm excited so I forgot again."

The Bun-Haired Demon; the ferocious beast known by only one poor Uzumaki.

"...excited?" Putting aside the terrifying imagery of a ravenous beast, the brunette sat be bemused for a moment as the boy renewed his approach. Discounting the nervous sweat that formed on his brow, the boy was in full on grinning so brightly she was amazed that his face hadn't split in two. When it clicked she blinked, followed shortly by the widening of her eyes as her expression morphed into one of incredulity. "...no way, you passed?"

"Yup, I passed, that means I'm a real Genin now and I get to keep my sword!" Practically glowing with pride and excitement, Naruto's grin somehow managed to grow an inch wider. "No more academy for this guy, it's all uphill from now on!"

As much as she wanted to be happy for his accomplishment, Tenten found it difficult to bypass the sheer level of disbelief present in her mind. All of the stories which Gai told her of teams Kakashi had failed and yet Naruto's team had been the sole exception? No way, she couldn't believe it, she sincerely found it hard to believe that such a man as notorious for failing graduates would make this time the exemption. What did he or his team do differently that every other graduation team neglected to do right? It was mind boggling, it was perplexing, it was nerve-racking, and she had half the mind to run up to the boy and threaten to throttle him for the sake of getting an answer.

"Ah, so um, now that I'm a real Genin, are you still gonna be okay training with me in Kenjutsu?"

His earnest question was what cut her from her musings and it took a second or two for it to properly register. To which, when it did, Tenten merely palmed her face as yet another sigh escaped from her lips. But this wasn't one of frustration, at least not entirely so, rather she was just composing herself. Contrary to her posture and choice of actions, she could feel the corners of her lips inclining in response to the boy's inquiry. She decided to help him learn on a whim and a sense of obligation as a responsible shinobi. It never had to stay that way, it didn't need to be out of some misplaced belief of responsibility.

"Yeah, it's fine, but since you're now keeping that I'm going to need to show you a few other things too." Heaving herself up off the tree stump she was using as a seat, she stretched her arms out over her head before leveling the grinning boy with a stern look. "Maintaining the upkeep of a sword is just as important as learning how to use it. That means cleaning it, sharpening it, all of that I'm gonna need to show you as well. Plus the braid on the hilt looks like it really needs to be replaced, so you may need to start saving up to replace it or the whole tsuka itself."

"Huh?"

"Never mind, I'll go over it again with you later. You said you wanted to train, so let's train; back to the usual katas."

No groans came from the blonde this time, instead just excited chuckles as he followed after the bun-haired brunette as she took the lead towards the area they usually did their training. Such bubbling excitement must have been contagious because throughout the walk there and even in the time after they began training the girl's lips didn't descend. She was still smiling and that sense of boredom that plagued her before was now gone and replaced with something else. Whether he was just a lively training dummy or not, it a better activity than her usual solitary target practice.

* * *

We meet again.

So, I'm gonna flat out say that...holy crap this chapter was long. But it was equally long overdue and I wanted to get this done and over with in one setting. Wasn't about to split this chapter up, no need to drag chapters along at a snails pace like that. If you're familiar with the original, then you'll understand why I'm eager to get things moving into the next arc. That's when all the good shit starts happening and that's when the start's tone will start to drift away from the original.

Anyway, sorry for those who felt like a lot of this was drawn out excessively. I kinda feel like some parts are like that, but I was mostly satisfied by the most of it. I did all that I needed to, a bit of action, some comedy, and hopefully I'm still staying true to the character's personalities from canon. I'm hoping I justified Naruto's reasons for helping in the end well enough to where it doesn't feel like...well, plot. That's something you guys are gonna half to judge for me so I'd love to hear what you guys have to say to that.

That being said, feel free to leave a review with whatever comments, questions, or concerns you feel the need to address. And as always, I hope you all enjoyed my little piece of refurbished work and I look forward to seeing you all again next time.

 _Goodbye for now._


	5. Prelude to Wave

Greetings to all!

Whew, would you look at that, another chapter within the same month? Is this a dream? Is this real? Are we all on drugs? Don't answer the last bit, point is the next chapter's here and right on time if I do say so myself. I think it has something to do with the fact that I'm going into the Wave Arc that's got me motivated. I can tell that all you old fans are getting hype as we draw closer to that point. I know it, I feel it in my bones, and I'm just as hype as you guys are.

So I'll shut up now and get the ball rolling: Enjoy the fifth chapter of Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang!

* * *

 **Inuyasha and Naruto are owned by Rumiko Takahashi and Mamashi Kishimoto respectfully; therefore I own nothing.**

* * *

D-Rank Missions.

There was no assortment of words that aptly described that which was the lowest grade of missions that any shinobi could perform. They could hardly be considered missions if one were to be completely honest. More or less considered to be chores issued out by the inhabitance of the village, these were usually the type of missions Genin teams were assigned to carry out. Generally speaking the civilian populous were the one's paying for these missions, though that was not to say that other shinobi didn't exploit the services of the lower ranks for their own purposes; in fact it happens a lot more often than one would think.

The payoff may not be substantial and the work was mundane, but it was something. Plus with a list of employers looking for help on a daily basis, the work did allow for some easy and steady income to be made. Unfortunately the positive aspects such missions possessed didn't balance out the negative points even enough for most folk. These tasks were as monotonous as they were degrading to those forced to do them in the first place. For the sake of the almighty they were shinobi, lowest rank or not they were still trained to be soldiers not gardeners and pet-sitters.

So imagine Team Seven's reaction to their first assignment as an official genin team was to pick up groceries for an elderly couple. Following that was a trip to the Laundromat, pulling weeds out a flowerbed, repairing an old fence line. Tasks like that had been the norm for them since the team became official and it was far from being a gratifying experience. And it continued to be that way throughout the remainder of the month and into the next; clocking in at nearly four weeks of tedious missions back to back without pause.

Truly this was an experience none of the young shinobi anticipated when they graduated, among other things. The group exercises they performed were not as bad, certainly more exciting than the missions tended to be, but eventually those exercises became just as mundane as the former.

Needless to say Naruto was not amused.

"This is dumb." Disgruntled couldn't even begin to describe how the blonde's current state of mind. "This is so dumb and so stupidly boring I'm about to fall asleep here."

Their current task consisted mainly of cleaning up scattered trash that had accumulated through a local park near the center of the village. Apparently whoever was in charge of dumping out the trash bens scattered around the area had neglected to do their job for one reason or another. So with most bens being overfilled people who didn't feel like carrying their trash with them simply decided to leave it behind; resulting in them having to come in and clean up after them. Laziness was what that was, and while it certainly gave them work to do, it was still annoying. What made that worse was that those lazy bastards tried to hide their garbage in bushes and such, as if making it less obvious to find would somehow make them feel less guilty for doing it in the first place.

All that did was make him want to post up somewhere and catch the bastards, beat the everliving crap out of them, and make them come clean this crap up for the duration of the day.

"Oh would you just quit complaining Naruto! We're not thrilled about it either, but you don't see me or Sasuke-kun griping about it, so shut up!"

Clearly she wasn't thrilled, given the increased state of ire she was directing at her teammate. At least this time she hadn't thrown a soda can or plastic bottle at him, unlike the last few times he voiced his complaints. Sasuke, on the other hand, just ignored the two whilst continuing his work in silence. Yet, as Sakura previously stated, just because they weren't vocal about it didn't necessarily mean they weren't in agreement with what the boy was saying. While they would much rather die than admit it aloud in his presence, mentally they were all on the same page. These missions were just ridiculous, every day felt like a waste, and no matter how often they complained—mostly from Naruto—there was little that could be done about it.

Kakashi had said that these missions were customary for newer graduates, which made sense once one stopped to think about it. Hence why neither Sakura nor Sasuke were so inclined to argue about the subject. They were smart enough to understand that, in the grand scheme of things, they were as green as it got. They barely passed the bell test, so who in their right mind would allow them to undertake a greater task when they were just scraping by on pure chance? No intelligent person, that was for sure, but just because they knew that didn't mean they had to like it. Sasuke was especially displeased, more so than he let on, considering how degrading these tasks made feel deep down where nobody could ever hope to see it.

In a way he was sorta envious of Naruto's ability to freely voice his disapproval; but that was just another thing he would never admit to anybody. Sakura felt the same way admittedly and would have been delighted to note that they shared a similar thought, but that was beside the point.

"I can't help it, this sucks, _it really sucks_ , and I don't like it!" Tempted, oh so tempted, was he from just throwing the trash-pike-thingy he was holding to the ground and marching his orange clad ass to the Hokage Tower. The only thing stopping him from doing just that was the verbal warning Kakashi had given him specifically if he ventured off to do his own thing. "I mean, come on, I've got this katana all cleaned up and everything, so when the hell am I gonna be able to use it!? Hell, what was the whole point of sensei's test and graduating if we aren't even gonna do real shinobi stuff?"

"You heard what Kakashi-sensei said, this is normal for groups like us. Everyone else is doing missions like these too, so it's not like we are the only team doing this kind of stuff. And maybe, just maybe, if you stopped complaining about the same thing every single time we'd get something better, so quit whining and let's finish this up."

"But—"

"Just shut up and get back to collecting garbage idiot."

Growling and with a shaking fist raised, Naruto just about lost what little composure he had to the Uchiha's remark.

"Hmm, the park looks much better, fine work you three." Thankfully Kakashi, who had been noticeably absent throughout the entire duration of this mission, finally stepped back into the picture. "As soon as you finish things up here, I have another mission waiting for us to do today."

Three sets of eyes glanced upward to find their ever nonchalant sensei sitting on the branch of a tree with his back to the truck and his nose deep in his ever present book. Had he been looking at them, he would have been greeted him eyes of clear indignation for both his lack of assistance and for picking up this mission in the first place. Of course he didn't really need to see them to know this, it wasn't a gut feeling, it was that he had been there for a while and just now decided to make his presence known. Why he chose now to do so was easy: he really didn't feel like listening to another verbal spat between the Uzumaki and Uchiha for a fourth time today. Don't misunderstand, he could tolerate them and quell the fighting just fine, but there needed to be an intermission between their little squabbles for his own sake.

"Um, Sensei, what _is_ our next mission supposed to be exactly?"

She didn't want to ask, truly she was not all too enthralled with the idea of doing anything like this anymore, but she had to know. Sakura's curiosity demanded to be sated and for better or worse she needed to know for the sake of mental preparation. Naruto was a hassle enough to listen to on a daily basis, doing rudimentary tasks like these alongside his consistent complaints only made it that much worse. If she knew what they would be in for preemptively, she could at least work out the best way to either avoid the loudmouth altogether or have a way to shut him up if his complaints became to vexing to listen to. And while Sasuke could have done the same, he neglected to do so in favor of finishing up with their current work to move on to the next. Very mature him actually and part of the growing list of reasons why Sakura preferred his presence more so than the orange-clad swordsman.

As for Kakashi, well, he just flipped the page of his book as his perpetually flat expression remained fixated on the pages in front of him.

"You remember the Daimyou's wife, or at least her cat Tora, right? Well, as it turns out, that little sneak decided it wanted to get some fresh air and forgot to come back home again. So our mission—"

"That dumb cat got back out? Didn't we do this two weeks ago?" Yes, two weeks ago, and already that cat was trying to escape from the clutches of an overtly attached noblewoman. But that train of thought went off the rails when something else clicked in the boy's mind, resulting in the trash-pike-thingy to be pointed accusingly at the man still sitting up in the tree. "Oi, hang on, what did you mean by 'we' anyway? You're the one always off to the side reading that stupid book of yours! Why don't you ever help us in doing these crappy side-missions!?"

"Okay, first of all, I said 'us' and 'our'; I never said 'we'." As redundant as that correction was, he couldn't resist and plus he had nothing better to do, so poking the blonde was at least amusing. "Secondly...I dunno actually, age gap, seniority, sensei status; take your pick."

"Is being a lazy bastard a choice?"

Who knew Naruto knew how to ask rhetorical questions?

Too bad he didn't know how to keep his voice low enough for said question to go unheard.

"Hmm? Did you say something Naruto?"

As Naruto tried to play it off like he had said nothing, Sakura couldn't help but sigh in exasperation at their next appointed task. Stale, nothing but stale mission after stale mission. Even though she wasn't enthused by the notion of live combat, she would be lying if she said she wasn't bored stiff with this lackluster side of the shinobi lifestyle. Training was all well and good, but when that was the only side of action that they could collectively look forward to, even that eventually lost its flair. Obvious as it was with Naruto, Sasuke's contempt was showing signs of surfacing in spite of his efforts to maintain his indifference on the matter. Case in point, this supposed 'trial-period' needed to come to a close, preferably sooner rather than later, for not just her but for Sasuke's sake as well.

If for nothing else than to at least satisfy the blonde enough to stop complaining just about every day.

Sakura didn't know it, in fact none of them knew it then, but ultimately they would get their wish.

* * *

On the other side of that coin, a certain someone felt the exact opposite as Team Seven at the time. The lack of 'excitement' would have been a nice change of pace compared to what was currently in play. Not everyone was looking for thrills, something that came with enough time spent as a shinobi. Hard to believe as that sounded, having an easy task to undertake would have been a nice change of pace. Risking one's life on a constant basis certainly gave some valuable insight and was what made the easier tasks something which should not be taken for granted.

The more experience gained, the higher the rank, the higher the risk and the greater likelihood of combat. The fun, the thrill, all of that stops when one truly realizes that the people they are fighting are willing and able to kill them if it means seeing another day. Most children don't think that far ahead when they join the academy, nor did most of them truly appreciate the lower tier missions until they were no longer doing them. Tenten, while unperturbed by either option, was still someone who generally liked the notion of a break from the norm every now and again.

"One, two, three, four, eighty-four! One, two, three, four, eighty-five! One, two, three, four, eight-six!"

Her view of a change of pace definitely included the ridiculous antics of two particular members of her team. Even now she could feel her brow twitch and to make it worse it went well in sync with each time the members counted down. She didn't need to look at the last member of her team to know that his expression was likely similar to her own.

"One, two, three, four, eighty-seven! One, two, three, four, eighty-eight! One, two, three, four, eighty—"

"For once, _just once_ , would you two stop doing ridiculous crap like this!?" Credit needed to be given to the girl for lasting _this_ long before finally losing patience. "We could have gotten back to the village an hour ago if you two would have just walked like normal human beings!"

Two, count two, bowl-cut individuals turned to face the girl at her outburst. Everything about the two was identical, from the green one piece attire, the leg warmers, and even their eyebrows. All that severed to separate the two in terms of looks was the height, age, the bandages on one, and the flank jacket on the other. Both looked perplexed, as if what they were doing was the most common thing in the world, which it obviously wasn't. Having taken to walking a good stretch of the road on their hands and doing push-ups every four steps was by no means normal. Supposedly it was just training on the go, but every fiber of her being believed that it was just their way of passing the boring trek home after a successful mission.

Basically Tenten suspected they were just bored...and because of that she and her teammate had to suffer for it.

"But Tenten, this is a great way to hone one's endurance and strength all at once, right Gai-sensei?"

Despite the sweat that trickled down both their respected faces, Gai once again showed off his strength by giving the boy his trade-mark thumbs up complete with a flashy smile. The fact that he was maintaining a perfect balance with just one arm did give testament to his strength and agility.

"Of course it is Lee and it is through this method that our springtime of youth with grow ever brighter with each progressive step forward!"

She didn't know what was more aggravating; the fact that Lee seemed to be enthralled by this or the fact that this was considered to be normal behavior with these two.

"Forget spring it'll be _summer_ at the rate that we're going, now quit goofing off and walk!"

It was great reluctance that the two sprung themselves off the ground following their last push-up. As much as they would like to continue the exercise, Gai understood the girl's desire to return home in a more timely pace than the one they were originally going. While their mission itself was hardly difficult they have still been gone for a better part of four days and that was not excluding today. He could assume that her haste was out of want to note waste the remainder of the day traveling and indulge in the time off that he usually gave them for a successful mission like this. A fact he could hardly blame her for, although he surely wished she wouldn't over exaggerate their training methods so harshly.

They wouldn't have taken _that_ long to reach Konoha.

"By the way, Tenten, would you be willing to join us later when we get back?" Lee asked as he took to stretching his arms, noting the satisfying soreness that came from the exercise. "I wouldn't mind a spar between us and I am anxious to see the improvements you have made to your style since last time."

Now, bear in mind, Tenten was not against the notion or was reluctant to spend a prolonged amount of time in the company of her teammate. While his pursuit of growing stronger could be exaggerated at times she had long since grown used to it and had nothing but respect for him and his efforts. Sparring with him was actually a welcomed suggestion that benefitted them both in some degree or another. Being on a team for over a year and a half did this sort of thing and the camaraderie between them was quite real. But as much as she valued the boy, there was only so much 'Lee and Gai' she could deal with before wanting some space. Not long of course, they were a team after all, but a minimum of a twelve hours after any longstanding mission was her typical rule.

Sometimes there was an exception or two, but more often than not she liked to have her distance.

"Sorry Lee, I have some other business to take care of when we get back." The apologetic expression that was worn as she said this was not forced nor lacking in its authenticity. And while he didn't look dejected by this, she did see his curiosity and decided to elaborate. "That kid I told you about, Naruto, hasn't had anyone to practice with for a good while. I need to make sure he hasn't been slacking off since I left and plus he still has more than a few things left that need to be improved on. "

"So you're going to go back and continue to babysit that recent graduate?"

Three sets of eyes turned to address the individual who, until now, had remained mostly silent for the majority of the last half hour. White eyes took in each individual's expression of puzzlement with the same amount of dismissal as the other, the disinterest evident for all to behold. Tenten's recent endeavors outside of missions or team training sessions was not a foreign concept to the group. They knew about it, they had name to tack on as well, all they lacked was the opportunity to meet the boy in person. Under no obligation to do so, they didn't for the sake of not cutting into the time the brunette spent with the boy.

Gai didn't mind, if anything he encouraged it, especially after Tenten informed him of just who the boy's sensei was. At that point Lee had become the most enthralled by that knowledge and was the most enthused at the concept of meeting him in person. His unwillingness to impose on their training was withstanding, unfortunately even that was starting matter less and less as time went on. Only this boy, Neji, seemed to have an issue with it and he made that pretty clear once he was made aware of it. Given how serious he was known to be to those who knew him, it was easily deduced that it was not for the reason one would attempt to tease him for.

"It's not babysitting Neji, it's me being a responsible and professional shinobi teaching someone the proper basics of Kenjutsu." Rebuked the girl, her tone casual with a mild undertone of annoyance underneath which still managed to surface in her eyes. "I didn't want him to end up hurting himself or those around him because of his lack of instruction, that's all. And if I'm gonna be honest, the progress he's made since was started has been...I'd say...pretty good by all accounts."

Tenten really didn't need to justify her actions, not to Neji or anyone; she only did what she thought was the correct course of action. And she wasn't giving false praise, Naruto _had_ made progress since the initial start of their sessions. Within nearly a full month of consistent practice the boy had memorized the basic kata and the two were actively working in applying those kata's into live combat situations. Admittedly their first sparring session had been a curb-stomp battle if there ever was one, her being the victor of course. Yet despite all that she threw at him, he always came back the next day; ready and willing to try again. It was commendable, it was astonishing, and it was a degree of commitment she wasn't privy of seeing very often outside of her own team.

His efforts, his drive to improve himself, were paying off as each session displayed signs of improvement.

Mind that such growth was gradual, sluggish even, however progress was still progress.

"Regardless of whatever praise or justification you provide, I still believe it is a wasted effort." Neji, however, was not inclined to agree. Her mildly disapproving gaze did not faze him in the slightest, hence why he chose to elaborate. "It would be smarter to just leave him be and allow his sensei to be the one to train him. Persisting in doing so will likely make you stagnate from wasting every spare moment improving his skills opposed to your own. You are well aware of how dangerous this lifestyle is, henceforth I expect you to know by now that it is unwise to willingly allow yourself to grow dull."

Hyuuga Neji, in spite of how callously he worded it, was only looking out for his teammate's best interests. He couldn't wholeheartedly admit that he cared deeply for his team, but he cared enough to express his concerns when it mattered. They were a team, they had built a dynamic and were quite the formidable group in their own right. So when one member's performance showed signs of digression, he would step up and bring that weakness to light so that it could be amended. Some would say it was out of his own interests more so than theirs and they would be correct. Because their problems became his problems, finding the root of the issue and removing it was the optimal choice of action.

Personal matters, on the other hand, were not of his concern. He didn't delve into that territory because he didn't care enough for other people's problems. He had his own troubles to worry about, leading for no room in digging into the business of other's beyond himself. If they couldn't learn to separate their personal lives from their profession, then they needed to reevaluate the sort of career path they wished to lead.

All in all, for better or for worse, Neji wasn't trying to be pretentious or unpleasant; he was just looking out for his teammate the best way he knew how.

Tenten knew of his intentions, as did the rest of them, and in frankest of terms she didn't give a damn.

Fortunately, before she could open her mouth to tell him exactly that, Gai stepped in.

"Neji-kun, I agree with you on the grounds the neglecting one's own growth for the sake of another is not condoned." The fact that he wasn't smiling and showed the more...somber side of himself was something worthy of everyone's attention. Sadly, as brief as that visage appeared, it was replaced with the usual charming smile returned with renewed vigor. "However! I would not discount the brilliant shine of our youthful weapon's specialist so hastily! Her flame has not dimmed, in fact I believe it has grown brighter if such a thing is possible! As her sensei I couldn't be more proud of her choice, of this she already knows, as it is a fine example of why the shinobi of Konoha are blessed with such burning passion!"

Gai's gushing over her 'flames of youth' didn't have the desired effect of flattering her, given how her palm rose up to slap at her brow. Neji too didn't seem all too impressed considering he had yet to see where he was getting at. For that reason only, both parties despite their better judgment continued to listen for the sake of humoring him.

"As a Jounin-sensei, I have trained you all to the best of my abilities, and yet I remain unsullied despite that! Why is that, how has my flame not dwindled over the passage of time? Is it because I am a Jounin; no. Is it because of my age; no! It because of you, my adorable students, that my youth still burns as bright and as strong as any freshly lit flame! The relationship between teacher and student is not a one-way street; both learn from one another! It is through that bond that allows both to grow in their radiance! Not just me, but all who stand beside their fellow shinobi, either as comrades or as teacher and student, feel the same way! As it is through our bonds as teammates, as comrades, as teachers, as students, as shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato, that have allowed our village and its people to be strong!"

Putting aside the ridiculousness of it all and taking the essential parts for what they were worth, one had to admit that Gai was not just speaking to hear his own voice. The Will of Fire, the basis that made up the spiritual heritage and the fundamentals which served as the foundation that the village was founded on. That was what he was referring to, in his own way of course, and even in its ridiculousness Tenten felt a sliver of respect grow for her sensei's honest belief. A belief that, like him, many other veterans of Konoha's shinobi forces lived by and shared. Neji, seeing no point in arguing about the subject any further, released a haggard sigh, folded his arms across his chest, and took to stepping a bit further ahead of the group.

All that remained was Lee, and what he saw was vastly different compared to the rest. For in his eyes, Gai was positively glowing so much so that it was as if he his frame had taken the on the essence of the sun itself. To him it was as if he were given the honor and privilege to meet a divine being in person. Now if he hadn't stood there with his lady-killing smile and giving them a thumbs up, perhaps his teammates would have more enthralled by what he said.

Unfortunate too, it was pretty captivating coming from him.

"You're youth! Your youth is overwhelmingly bright Gai-sensei!" Manly tears pooled down the boy's cheeks at his teacher's cool and wise words, his forearm raising to his face in a futile effort to wipe them away. "I-I-I'm sorry sensei, you are just too bright for someone like me to lay eyes on!"

Tarnishing the image further was the fact that Gai too succumbed to his emotions and broke out into Manly Tears himself.

"It is nothing to apologize about Lee, do not be ashamed."

And now came that awkward moment in time which Tenten and Neji would collectively disassociate themselves from both green clad shinobi. Their feet picking up in pace as they tried desperately to distance themselves as far away from the identical duo as they had their little moment.

Neither saw nor wanted to see the two hug it out, fate having dictated that they didn't deserve to witness such a sight.

Not at that moment anyway.

* * *

Perhaps it should be said that Naruto, for all his faults and beliefs, didn't necessarily believe too strongly in things like god or any particular form of divinity that may exist. This could be attributed his lack of guidance growing up, having little belief in things he couldn't see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. Excluding the religious factor for a moment, let it be known that Naruto was not someone who was afraid of ghosts, monsters, or the like because he was never told about them. His terrors stemmed from the isolation imposed by the older populous of the village. The fear that came from knowing if something happened to him, whether it be him getting lost, hurt, or otherwise, nobody would come looking for him.

While other kids were afraid of things like the dark or some monster in the closet space, Naruto's had deeper fears. He grew out of them in the academy, mostly anyway, for those morbid thoughts still surfaced from time to time; largely depending on the day's events. Returning back to the religious factor, how does one as socially isolated as he come to know of such things? The simple answer is that he didn't and by the time he found out it he had already come to conclude that if such divine beings exist, they are unkind. And things that are unkind tend to invoke emotions such as distain and anger. Things that are disliked are brushed aside in favor of things that were liked, and with so little to like about his life the blonde chose not to believe in things like god and fate.

Believing in such things didn't give him a family, friends, or make his life better. Why would anyone believe in something so pretentious if, at the end of the day, it didn't do anything? In his mind, if he wanted to make things change, then he had to do it himself and not put his hopes into something as fickle as fate. A zealot person would label him a heretic for even thinking such a thing, if they didn't already consider him one for being a Jinchuuriki.

But for this one time, he reasoned, he could give whatever god or divine beings their proper respect.

"Ten-chan! You won't believe what I—" He burst into the field in all smiles, but that smile died quickly when he realized his folly, followed by panic. "Sorry, I forgot, sorry!"

In his panic he had ducked low onto the ground, cradling his head, and basically doing his impression of a bolder.

But nothing came.

Daring to peek up, his blue eyes scanned the immediate area and found that there was nobody in the training area. No one except him, which was both relieving and a bit disappointing considering he had hoped to have at least tell his friend the good news. The mission he just received was Team seven's first C-Rank mission after all, which was a big deal since it gave him something different to do. The client was an ass, but it sure as hell beat picking litter out from bushes or chasing after some lady's cat for the better portion of an hour. Unfortunately it seemed that the mission Tenten said she would be going on had taken longer than she thought, which marked the fourth day that had gone by without his usual company to hang out with.

"...that sucks, I was hoping she'd be here." It wasn't quite dejection that surfaced on his face, she was an active Genin and all. It was more like a somber visage in recognition of her absence. "Guess I came here for nothin' huh?"

For almost one month they had being doing this little dance; meet up, chat, and train. A casual observer could see that there was nothing particularly special about it; hell they would see it as just a means to an end. One learned, the other taught, simple and sweet, with the occasional moments where the two would bullshit and chat during breaks. Sacred was not the word that was used to describe their sessions, but that was just from an outside perspective. While he could not speak on Tenten's behalf, Naruto enjoyed every second of it because he never had anyone close to his age treat him like she did. She could harsh, strict, and unforgiving, but she was much nicer to him than most people he knew. She would compliment him if he did well in their spars, berate him if he did poorly, making her a fair person.

The title of dead last didn't apply to her because she too had a teammate who bore the same stigma. From what the blonde was told the guy ended up turning into a certified bad-ass through rigorous amounts of effort. Addiontally, at the start of it all, Tenten had said it was possible for him to grow into a Kenjutsu specialist so long as he put in a great deal of effort. If her teammate was truly like him, someone without innate talent, then there was no reason why he couldn't reach the title of 'bad-ass' like her teammate had done. That was something both of them agreed on, which helped a lot since she didn't instantly judge him based on his lack of skill from the get-go.

Perhaps that was why he liked hanging around her so much, not just for the training, but because the more they did this the more she got to know him.

Not like there was much of him to know, aside from things he couldn't say, so that wasn't an accurate statement. A better phrasing would be that she grew accustomed to him, his mannerisms, quirks, and shortcomings. In the same vein, she saw his honesty, resolve, and commitment to the things that he believed mattered most. Things like these, sadly, most of his peers never saw and it was for that reason Naruto took her absence today much harder than he should have. He'd like to say they were friends, though she never openly referred to him as such, and the last thing he had hoped to do before he departed was tell her this bit of news. Friends did that sort of thing, at least he thought so, and he wasn't sure if she would be in the village when he got back.

On a grim note, Naruto was aware that he didn't have much time to spare, he still had to pack before meeting his team at the main gate. This was just a pit-stop, a quick run-and-gun deal, and staying long was not on the agenda. Despite that, part of him wished more than anything that he could stick around for another five to ten minutes just to see if she showed up. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't, and so with the same somber expression he turned away to leave. Three steps after he came upon a vaguely familiar stump, one that Tenten often used as a seat during their breaks or when waiting for him to show up. The sight of it gave way to an idea, one that made him grin as he fished out a kunai from his equipment pouch.

"Well, if I can't tell her myself, you'll have to pass on the message for me bud!" Putting aside the fact that he was talking to a tree stump, he set to work on carving out his hastily written message into the what little flat surface was available. After a quick survey of his work, he jabbed the kunai into the bark below the message; satisfied that it would suffice as a marker. "Whelp! I got mission to get ready for, so here's hopin' you're here when I get back Ten-chan!"

The way he waved over his shoulder as he raced off the training field and towards his flat gave the impression there was someone there.

In spite its vacancy, it wasn't hard for his imagination to conjure the mental image of the girl waving him back as he left.

* * *

About half an hour had passed since they had been dismissed to prepare for the mission they were about to undertake. Sasuke had been the first person of the team to arrive there, which wasn't too much of a surprise. Sakura was the second, much to the Uchiha's dismay as she took advantage of their solitude to try and chat with him as they waited. Third to arrive was Kakashi, which was surprising considering his perpetual tardiness made them both assume that he wouldn't arrive until much later. Neither Genin was complaining about it, odd and unlike him, but they reasoned that because it was a more serious mission meant he couldn't keep the client waiting for hours like he would them.

All that was left was for Naruto to show up...and he was running late.

"What's the hold up? Can't short-stock follow us down the trail or does he need to have his hand held whole way?" Their client, Tazuna, clearly wasn't too fond with the idea of them just sitting around waiting for the obnoxious boy to show up. "Even if he was lagging behind by five minutes I'm pretty sure he'd see us from here if we went ahead."

"Under normal circumstances, I would agree, but this is their first time outside village and he's...to put it lightly...easily excitable." Kakashi wasn't necessarily trying to appease the man rather he was offering an explanation. Good thing he wasn't going for the former, as the older man grumbled out more complaints about having to hire children to act as his bodyguards. "I'm sure he has his reasons for running late, believe me, I'm just as surprised."

" _You_ believe _me_ when I say I'm _not_ surprised." Retorted the man as he uncorked the gourd on his wasteland to take another swig of its contents. "I paid good money for this, and all I get are some brats, a yapping runt, and guy who looks like he hasn't seen a comb in twelve years."

"Thirteen, actually."

"And he's a smart-ass too! Are you all really shinobi or—"

"Yo!"

Whatever he was about to tack on to that statement was cut off by the loud greeting signaling the arrivial of their tardy teammate. Said teammate was grinning ear-to-ear and practically bouncing on the balls of his feet once he came to a stop. The three mildly hostile looks the group sent him were all but missed as the boy turned to look expectantly up at his sensei.

"What're we sittin' around here for? Are we ready to go now or what?"

With the power and wrath of a vindictive female, Sakura took it upon herself to reprimand the boy the best way she knew how.

With a fierce downward fist right to the boy's noggin.

"Gah! What, what did I say?"

"We were waiting on _you,_ idiot."

"Shut you're noise hole you dirty bastard!"

In spite of the subsequent quarrel that came about from his arrival, the group finally moved forward passed the gates and onto the open road. Most of the conversation that took place here went well over Tazuna's head, his interest being more focused on the road and the dense forest that surrounded it. He was no shinobi, wasn't trained to hide his true thoughts and emotions, but he did know how to be subtle about it. For the time being at least he needn't worry, for fuck's sake the massive gates of Konohagakure were still easy to make out, but even so he couldn't help it. And while he wasn't nervous about it now, he knew that the further they ventured away from those absurdly massive gates the more it would start to show.

For the sake of his blood pressure, he decided to better observe the group that were to be his personal guards. All were children, old enough to be his grand children sans the one other adult, so he didn't think much of them during the initial meeting. Not that his opinion of them changed since then, nor did he have any reason to believe it would as they traversed to Wave Country. If he had to pick one to like, then the quiet boy with the dark eyes was be his top choice solely due to his lack of socializing with anyone. He had the no-nonsense persona down pat and had he been older the bridge builder would have been glad to see this. The girl, talkative as she was, would have been second in line since she seemed to have a different air about her than the other two; possibly acting as the moral pillar for the three.

Then there was the runt, who he outright said he didn't like. From his size, his clothes, his attitude; everything about the kid screamed attention whore and it immediately annoyed him. Hell it hadn't even been five minutes and he was already tired of hearing him talk, which he was doing an excessive amount of despite supposedly being shinobi. If kids like that really were placed into the same category as the ruthless killers and assassins of the world, then it was downright robbery for the major villages to charge so much for missions like these. Who in their right mind would willingly entrust their lives to kids like that? No sensible person he knew would, but then again most of the protection would be coming from the other adult among them, which unsurprisingly didn't improve his mood.

During the course of this observation though, the master bridge builder took notice to something the blonde currently had in his possession. Not that he hadn't notice it before when he arrived, but his desire to leave temporarily quelled his interest. Now that they were on the move, he figured now would be the best time to bring it up.

"What's a runt like you doing with a katana? I didn't see it the first time I saw ya, so why do you suddenly got one now all of a sudden?"

In all fairness, the question he raised had sprung up out of the blue, so he could begrudgingly understand the curious look the three gave him before turning their attention on the object in question. Naruto, having no room secure it anywhere else at the moment, chose to simply carry it in his hand, letting the sheathed weapon rest at the crook of his neck. Of course the Uzumaki spared it one glance before grinning like once more, making his teammate's roll their eyes as if to say 'here it comes'.

"Pretty neat huh? I stopped bringing it with me everywhere because of those boring ass missions we were doing before. This being our first big mission and all, I'd be stupid if I didn't take it with me. I mean, why wouldn't I bring it after all the training I've been doing with this baby?"

"...terrific, do me a favor, don't come near me with that thing. I'd like to not die because of you tripping over your own feet and stabbing me."

"I don't have to trip over my feet to stab you, you know!"

"Now, now, Naruto, don't threaten the client please." Kakashi to the rescue, though this time he did actually give Tazuna a deadpan look as well. "I know he doesn't look it, but I assure you Naruto here isn't _that_ much of a klutz."

"Hey."

"Now that you mention it, what sort of training are you doing with that thing?" Sakura's curiosity was not something to be underestimated, for even if a subject was related to someone she detested that alone wouldn't stop her from seeking answers. And she would be lying if she said this particular topic hadn't been skirting along the edges of her mind for a while now. "What, did you go to the library, find some scrolls on the basics of Kenjutsu or something? I can't imagine any other effective way to learn outside of having a personal instructor, and I would find it hard to believe anyone would be willing to train you one-on-one."

Ouch, that stung, well the girl certainly didn't pull her punches.

By the way, Kakashi was literally right behind the boy, and he did count as a personal instructor.

"Scrolls? Pfft, yeah right, even if I wasn't banned from going into that place I wasn't gonna use those stupid training guides." As testament to how used to this sort of thing he was, Naruto's face scrunched up into mild indignation, though not at the quip but at the example the girl provided. "But I did meet someone who is really good with lots of weapons and swords and other stuff. After I got this thing, she said she'd help teach me some basic Kenjutsu, and that's what we've been doin' since; along with some other stuff when she was busy with her team."

Her.

He mentioned a 'her', as in another girl.

This someone, this girl who had yet to be identified, had offered to be his training partner? She did say she would find it hard to believe, she did, but at the same time she wanted to believe it. It didn't take a genius to figure out why she was willing to accept this as true, doubtful as it appeared. If it really was a girl, the cuter the better in her mind, then maybe her idiot teammate would finally leave her alone and focus on wooing someone else for a change! As long as he was telling the truth then this was news, good news! Plus it killed two birds with one stone. Naruto obviously getting what he wanted-in both training and a new girl to crush on-and Sakura could finally get all the quality time alone with Sasuke she wanted.

So yeah, the more she thought about the more she was willing to believe it.

And she wasn't alone in her interest either, as Kakashi and Sasuke both had become more attentive to the conversation in play; though for different reasons.

"I'm so hurt that you didn't ask me, your own sensei, for any assistance." The overwhelming amount of 'hurt' in his voice may as well have comical coming from him. Sarcasm aside, Kakashi's single eye crinkled in what they dubbed 'the eye smile' fashion as his hand plopped down onto the boy's messy blonde head. "So then, this girl you mentioned, does she have name?"

Haruno Sakura's inner persona was practically screaming in delight at this point. Seemed like she and the Jounin were thinking along the same lines if his recent question was of any indication.

On that note: who knew Hatake Kakashi could fill in as a wingman on such short notice?

"I didn't ask you because you didn't ever offer me that sorta thing." Said simply and accusingly, proving that he too could be pretty straightforward, but that knowledge has already been established. "Her name's Tenten, by the way...why did you wanna know what her name was?"

"...no reason."

His narrowed disbelieving gaze he shot over his shoulder did the job in making the man pull himself further back from him and the group in general. Naruto's accusation regarding training did have some merit, but all the same the Jounin was justified. Kenjutsu wasn't his strongest field, and the most he could hope to teach him would be the basics. If Naruto had been starting from square one, then that was where he would have started too. Yet this new development changed his whole game-plan in regards to the boy's training, specifically in what he could teach the boy now that there was a new open slot available. He had more than a few for him, for all of them actual, but with Kenjutsu basics now out of picture he needed to come up with something else to fill in the spot that was no longer occupied.

Something to think about.

"So, this Tenten girl, what's she like?"

Sakura's return into the discussion immediately captured the boy's complete attention and returned the flow of the conversation back in the right direction. Most of what came out of the gushing boy's mouth was tuned out by those who either lost interest in the topic or absorbed in their own thoughts. By which point most weren't paying the surrounding environment much mind, which included a small puddle of water by the edge of the road. That little detail went right over them as they pressed on passed it without giving it a fleeting thought.

What followed next took less than a couple seconds. Two men, garbed in dark clothes and rebreathers, rapidly emerged from the puddle and without any cue or warning took action. One was thrown, an odd act at first until one noted the bladed chain that was linked to each one of them. The thrown individual's target was the one furthest in the back, his left arm rotating as he flew over head, causing still slacked chain to wrap itself around the Jounin's arms and torso, effectively binding him in place. And that had been before Meizu touched back down onto the dirt, landing in a crouch in parallel from Gōzu's position. With the amount of chain being taut and their prey effectively ensnared, both men in perfect synchronization pulled on their respected lines.

Again, all this took place in the short span of a few seconds, no more, no less than that. And by the time anyone had realized it, Kakashi's body was viciously torn shredded into many fleshy pieces. Surprise came first, shock and horror then followed as the scene played out before their very eyes. But the Demon Brothers didn't have the luxury of time on their hands, they had a mission to do here and three kid that were still in the way of their target. All that was left to do was go up the line, and so their sights became set on the blonde as both rushed forward with the chain ready to claim its next victim.

Unfortunately for Meizu and Gōzu, the life of Uzumaki Naruto was not up for grabs.

The instant he saw the two approach as well as the chain that kept the jointed, his grip on the saya loosened enough for it to slide smoothly down from its previous position. By the time they were prepared to repeat the process of ensnaring him within it, his blade had been almost entirely unsheathed. The sword clashed against the semi-taut line of bladed metal, the boy gritting his teeth in exertion as the older men vastly began to overwhelm him with their combined strength. Considering how the two were still running and even circling around him now to try and trap him like they had done previously. Thankfully he noticed this, from that was able to move both saya and blade together in a proper upward motion to parry under chain and thus avoiding the maneuver entirely.

Sword now fully drawn and his eyes locked on the two men, he mentally prepared himself for whatever followed.

Apparently, despite the effort shown, neither of the assailants were interested in perusing him further. He wasn't their target, but because of the sliver of extra effort that went into this coordinated attack on the boy, in the few seconds that it took, the rest of the group had regained their bearings and thus retaliated accordingly. The prime example of this was Sasuke, leaping high and in a surprising display of accuracy pinned the slackened chain to the trunk of a nearby tree with but a shuriken and kunai. With their chain now wedged to a tree, the two men had momentarily lost their mobility, leaving them open for when the same boy touched down atop of their gauntlet-clad arms and kicking each men squire in the face. He probably could have done more damage if time had permitted him, but it didn't.

The instance after this counter attack, both men detached themselves from the chain before splitting themselves up in pursuit of their own targets. Meizu, irritated with their initial failure to kill the blonde, darted straight for the blonde. Raising the bladed fingers of his gauntlet, he made an effort to impale the boy dead in the chest. Attest to his initial plan to make the boy scream as he tore him to shreds like he wanted, he had to make this kill quick. The second he lunged his arm forward, however, the boy had hopped back three feet from where he stood, ducking his body low as the extra inches from the arm accessory covered the remaining distance.

With Meizu's torso now exposed and open, Naruto took one last step forward as he swung in an upward arch at the man from his lower vantage point. At that moment it registered to him precisely what he was doing, and in that moment he closed his eyes expecting to be showered with the blood of his attacker. But when his sword connected and he felt the resistance, he also heard the sound of metal scraping against metal. That was when he opened his eyes and saw the light body-armor and the shiny metal plating beneath the camouflage suit. Eyes widened, the blonde realized his mistake a second too late as the man's leg became a blur, his foot landing solidly on the boy's abdomen and successfully knocking him to the ground and knocking the air out of his lungs.

With the boy now on his back, this would normally have been the precise moment for Meizu to act. And he would have, provided he hadn't been close-lined and an immediate a choke-hold by someone who, up until that moment, everyone perceived to be dead.

"We then, that escalated quickly." More like decelerated quickly from Naruto and the rest's point of view, but they were too surprised to see their sensei alive to voice that comment. Taking a look at the group an noted with satisfaction that no one seemed to have been harmed from the exchange, aside of course from Naruto who was recovering from the blow just fine. "Sorry for the scare, but I wanted to see how you would all perform in a combat situation. And all of you performed quite well, beyond my expectations if I'm to be honest."

Given the severity of the situation, Naruto hadn't really see all of what the rest of his team had done. He had seen what Sasuke had done, as did everyone else, and despite the praise he really didn't feel too happy about it. Mainly because he felt that he had been shown up by what the Uchiha had done, his justification for doing so being Sakura's compliments towards the aloof boy standing casually to the side as if nothing happened. He, meanwhile, was picking himself up off the ground, dusting himself away from the rest of the group. He had been singled out and he more than likely would have gotten killed just then if Kakashi hadn't gotten involved. There was also the blunder he had made with his attack, his unwillingness to see himself cutting open another flesh and blood human being.

Closing his eyes from such a sight pissed him off because it was something he had been instructed to never do. Never take your eyes off your opponent, simple as that, and he did it anyway. All because he didn't want to see himself killing another person or have that image burned into his brain.

"Naruto, I think this belongs to you." Having been addressed, the blonde looked up to see his sensei no longer carrying the two men under his arms but instead the sheath to his sword in his hands. Despite the situation, however, the man appeared to be smiling behind his mask, indicated by his eye whilst waving the saya up and down for the boy to take. "I saw everything, no need to beat yourself up over it, now cheer up you did just fine."

At that, Naruto took the sheath with a small begrudging smile in appreciation for his sensei's efforts to cheer him up. When the older man turned around, however, that smile was gone once his gaze landed on the bridge builder who visibly stiffened.

"These don't look like your typical set of bandits here Tazuna-san." Kakashi's voice lost a good portion of the lethargic tone his students were accustomed to hearing. One didn't need to be exposed to him long to know he was far from pleased, and he was making damn sure Tazuna knew that in both voice and posture as he stared accusingly at the man. "If anything they look more like the _Oni Kyōdai_ of Kirigakure, two missing ninja which goes beyond what we are being paid to do for this mission."

Under such a stern gaze and practically standing in the spotlight, the elderly man could do nothing except gulp down the knot forming in his throat.

"Looks to me like we're gonna to need to have a little chat here Tazuna."

* * *

"For the last time Lee, I'll introduce him to you later, besides I don't even think he's here yet."

"I cannot contain myself, I must meet this boy who has been influenced by your flames of youth! It would be a crime to postpone this inevitable meeting any longer than it already has!"

So much for some solitary time away from her teammate, such was the melancholically thought that entered the brunette's mind as she traversed to the training field. While it had almost been an hour since they had returned to the village, Tenten still had plans to drop her traveling pack at home as well as get herself something to eat before coming here. She reasoned that Naruto would still be doing his usual D-Rank missions, so she felt she could afford to kill some time beforehand. To her dismay, Lee had 'just so happened' to come across her during the commute from her lunch spot to the training grounds. Coincidence, nay, Konoha was a large place and after the spiel with Gai earlier still fresh in mind, the girl was inclined to believe otherwise.

It helped to know that Lee was a terrible liar, from her standpoint at least. What didn't help was the fact that he was being so adamant about something so trivial.

"Honestly, why do you have make a big deal out of this?" Asked the girl rhetorically, pinching the bridge of her nose in clear annoyance, before sighing. "Well, it's not like I mind, I've been meaning to do it for a while anyway."

Much to her expectations, when the two finally arrived at the usual spot, Tenten and Lee were greeted with a barren field with training dummies and the like still posted about. Same as always, empty, leaving her to wait for the loudmouth to burst onto the scene as she idly practiced on her own. Lee, having been informed of this several times in advance, still deflated a bit after coming all this way for nothing. Not that he was unwilling to wait, he would if need be, but for how long was the important question at hand. This meeting was not intended to be long, he wanted to train a bit more and a lot of the time he had spent already was cutting into what he could have been put to better use by now.

"Told you he probably wasn't here. " Her placid statement only served to deflate the boy further, causing the girl to give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Oh cheer up, he'll show up here eventually, and even if you can't still around I promise I'll introduce to you to him soon."

That little taste of reassurance seemed to do the job in putting the boy's mood back into a good place. He smiled a bit, not fully like usual, but he was still smiling which meant he was mostly back into his old groove. It even made her smile a bit, a combination of seeing him in a better mood as well as reminding her of the similarities that he and Naruto seemed to share. Yeah, those two meeting face-to-face was certainly a must at this point; the resembling personalities were just too strikingly similar to not do it. Having said that, Tenten ventured further into the field before taking note of the lone kunai jutting up from the stump that served as her usual seat. Curious, she approached it and the closer she got to it the clearer it became that someone had etched something into the bark.

"A note?" Trailing not far behind her, Lee too grew increasingly curious about what precisely was written on the tree stump. Disregarding the kunai Tenten put emphasis on reading the obviously rushed note; a mixture of emotions surfacing on her face before settling on the same placid smile she had on before. "What does it say?"

"I guess I was wrong this time, he got here first. Basically, him and his team got lucky and were given their first C-Rank mission. Says he'll be gone for a while and that when he gets back we'll pick up where we left off, assuming our team doesn't go out on another mission."

Honestly that wasn't what Lee had expected to hear portraying to the absence of his teammate's sparring partner. From what he was told the boy hadn't been a Genin for very long and yet for some reason he was already undertaking a more advanced mission than what they ever did in the first couple months after graduating. Although, if possible, such knowledge increased his want to meet the boy further than he could have thought possible. Clearly there was more at work here than Tenten was admitting to, there had to be something more to this Uzumaki than what she was telling him and the rest of their team. Not just that boy, the rest of his team as well made him curious as well, as they were clearly skilled if their sensei had enough confidence in their abilities to allow them to undertake an advanced mission so soon.

If he only knew.

"Well, guess I'm gonna have to go on without my usual training partner for a while." Removing the kunai from the stump, she took a moment to muse on a particular thought before turning back to Lee. "Hey, Lee, does your offer for a spar still open?"

Unbeknownst to Lee, there was a section that Tenten hadn't voiced and was currently in the process of subtly scratching it out of the bark. Despite how clear cut he had put it in his note, Naruto for some reason or another felt the need to reassure her that he would be fine. Cheeky brat that boy was, making unfounded assumptions about her like that. Truly it was ridiculous to think that she of all people would be worried about him taking some run-of-the-mill escort mission outside the village. She was his training partner for god's sake, not some worrywart sibling! Even if that was true, she was still capable of expressing her amusement at the message he left; in spite of how she was scratching it out. The fact that he called her Ten-chan in his message had absolutely nothing to do with her actions either, nope, not at all.

Please, Tenten worrying about that orange-clad blonde?

Preposterous.

Tenten didn't need to worry, after all it was _her_ who trained him.

* * *

We meet again.

Okay, so, just as a heads up I'm pretty sure I might get some grief on the religious factor put into this chapter. Rest assured that it's not something that'll appear again anytime soon or at all. I'm just basing this off of Naruto's canon declaration that he didn't believe in fate. It might seem like I'm calling him an atheist, but its more like a renouncement of god or other divine beings rather than not believing in them. I felt it fit with that particular moment and I couldn't find a way to opening for that scene, so that's why that's there.

If it bothers enough of you then feel free to tell me—not yell it at me, tell me—and I'm make sure to keep that mess out from here on.

Otherwise, pretty much a filler chapter exploring more of the bond between Tenten and Naruto. I'm in agreement with a few of you saying they have a sibling-ish bond developing and I figured now would be the best time to get it out of the way. But filler is still filler, calling it the prelude doesn't justify it, but it sorta needed to happen. Plus, to those who don't like this, at least you'll know that the next chapter will be an uninterrupted battle between Team 7 and Zabuza; so that's something to look forward to right?

That being said, feel free to leave a review with whatever comments, questions, or concerns you feel the need to address. And as always, I hope you all enjoyed my little piece of refurbished work and I look forward to seeing you all again next time.

 _Goodbye for now._


End file.
